Article Submitted By: USACE Huntsville Center representative.

Huntsville, Alabama After more than 24 years of civil service, Charles (Chuck) Twing, chief, Chemical Warfare Design Center, retires March 31. His accomplishments were recognized during a March 20 retirement ceremony attended by current and past Huntsville Center employees as well as representatives from Redstone Arsenal and other Army agencies outside the USACE and Huntsville Center realm.

"These people didn't have to come to the Center on a rainy day like today, but they showed up and that is a testament to you Chuck", said Col. Robert Ruch, Huntsville Center commander. "That speaks strongly to the support you've given."

Prior to his hiring in 1990 as the second UXO safety specialist brought on board at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville Division, Twing served 20 years in the active-duty Army as an EOD officer.

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Boston, Massachusetts The State Police Bomb Squad safely carried out a controlled explosion of an old, rusty, 12-inch Civil War Era cannonball found by a fisherman. The cannonball was found under a sand berm on Carson Beach near Castle Island.

The round was suspected of being filled with black powder. The cannonball was disposed without incident.

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Grafenwoehr, Germany When a WWII-era U.S. bomb was discovered at the construction site of a new elementary school at the U.S. Army Garrison in Grafenwoehr, both U.S. officials and German EOD responded. After the safe evacuation of the surrounding community, EOD moved the bomb to a nearby range for disposal.

The UXO was identified as a WWII U.S. 1,000 pound bomb and thus determined to fall under German EOD jurisdiction. However, due to its location on the U.S. base, the 702nd EOD Company, headquartered there, was tasked with the disposal.

Ironically, the discovery of the bomb came just days before the 70th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Grafenwoehr, which during WWII was a German military training area. The April 8, 1945 attack, known as "Low Sunday," saw over 200 American B-17 bombers drop nearly 200 tons of fire bombs over area.

Mount Santa Rosa, Guam A nine-year-old and his 19-year-old relative found a cache of UXO while hiking and decide to bring the munitions home as souvenirs. Military officials were called by the boy's father who felt the four grenades, four rocket mortars, a 81-mm mortar, and 5.56mm rifle rounds could be hazardous.

The items were indeed determined to be live and were removed for disposal. The boys had also previously found tanks and guns in the same area.

DeLand, Florida The Volusia County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad was summoned to a garage sale when an off-duty sheriff's deputy saw what appeared to be an military ordnance item in the garage. The home was evacuated and EOD from Patrick Air Force Base responded to remove item which was actually a WWII 75mm German artillery shell.

The shell, which still had its firing pin in place, was safely removed from the scene. The owner claims to have had the ordnance for over 20 years, a gift from a friend who brought it back from the War.

Honolulu, Hawaii Concerns over WWII UXO on some Big Island properties have forced two federal housing-assistance programs to suspend grants and loan guarantees for Native Hawaiian housing at those locations. Among those programs on hold is a $2 million grant for infrastructure work at a Hawaiian homestead development in Waimea.

Also affected are several families planning to build new homes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has stopped issuing loan guarantees in the areas. Officials from the department recently learned that five homestead communities are within 100,000 acres contaminated with remnants of bombs, grenades and other munitions, remnants of WWII training exercises in the area.

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Sebewaing, Michigan Huron County Road Commission workers and contractors working under a USACE funded flood control project utilized explosives to break ice in the Sebewaing River near the mouth to Saginaw Bay. The project was carried out in coordination with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The purpose of the blasting was to prevent ice dams from forming and to reduce the potential for flooding in the spring time. Ice blasting is only required when certain conditions are met including thick ice (> 2-feet thick) and a fast spring thaw is expected. The blasting also helps to protect downstream bridges by helping to break apart large blocks of ice that get carried away with the current during the spring thaw.

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Moray, United Kingdom Aerial photographs found during an archival research revealed a residential park was actually constructed over an area that was once an Army WWII era camp. The playground actually overlapped a former trench training area. Concerns that UXO were never screened for or cleared during construction of the park and playground led to widespread fears among the residents.

A contractor was hired to conduct an investigation at the site. To date, only scrap metal has been located, but parents in the area have expressed concern that children have been playing on ground that could house explosive threats. Local officials maintain the safety of the park and no closures or evacuations have taken place.