Exter, United Kingdom Homeowners were shocked when their contractor working on an extension to their home reported finding a munition during excavations. Police initially responded to incident before they called the Royal Navy EOD for technical support. EOD responded after the homeowners and construction crew were evacuated. EOD identified the item as an incendiary round before safely transporting the item for proper off-site disposal.
Knoxville, TN A report of a military munition in a residential shed led to a multi-agency response including members of Fort Campbell EOD, the local FBI office and local police which followed standard protocol for that jurisdiction.
While the device was being X-rayed and evaluated, authorities requested that 20 homes within a 300-foot radius of the find be contacted directly by the 9-1-1 center and let them know they may be asked to leave their homes for a brief time later in the night.
East Lothian, Scotland Staff at Archerfield Links golf club were conducting routine maintenance around the prestigious course when they discovered a small, suspicious device buried underground. The round metal object, about the size of a tennis ball, with arm and aerofoil on the end, was believed to be a WWII training device.
Police and the Ministry of Defence were contacted, along with East Lothian Council. A spokesman for Police Scotland said, "East Lothian Council attended with sandbags to assist with the operation. A dig of the area was implemented and 60 pieces of ordnance were dug up, 30 being practice rounds and 30 being live. A number of controlled explosions were carried out on the beach."
Hitchin, England Police officers were called to the Chevronic Centre in Hitchin after the owner found a suspected WWII grenade. The area was evacuated while the grenade was inspected by EOD.
The owner, Rob Moss, found the munition while sorting through a box of vintage car parts he had recently purchased. Moss said, "I was just going through the parts and buried in one of the boxes was what looks like a 1930s Japanese grenade."
Moss notified authorities who examined the item which was indeed a Japanese Type 97 grenade. It was deemed inert and the area was reopened.
Jefferson County, Missouri Routine yard work turned very interesting when Pamela Coffey stumbled upon a small metal object sticking out of the soil. She brought it inside and rinsed it off before noticing it had Japanese writing on it.
Coffey's husband, Sam, stepped in to help out by scrapping it with a steak knife. "We're trying to figure out what the heck this thing is," he said, "when from the kitchen she yells, 'Stop! I think that might be a bomb!'"
Using an image recognition app, they discovered it might be a WWII Japanese Navy mortar. Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies responded and were later joined by federal officials with the ATF, the St. Louis Regional Bomb and Arson Unit and EOD personnel from Scott Air Force.
Cape May, New Jersey The Atlantic City Bomb Squad responded to a residence in North Cape May after the property owners discovered a hand grenade in an old garage while preparing for a yard sale. Lower Township Police responded immediately and shut down the nearby streets to set up an exclusion zone for the bomb squad.
The bomb squad secured the grenade for transport to a local range for disposal in coordination with military EOD. According to a press release by police, the hand grenade was discovered by a couple who were cleaning out a garage that no one had looked through in more than 30 years. They had inherited the property from an uncle and were renting it out.
Duxford, United Kingdom A 17-year-old using his metal detector for the 2nd time uncovered a WWII landmine in his home. Suspicious that it could be ordnance, he called the police who responded.
The college student explained his find to reporters who covered the story: "I thought what if this is what I think it is.... I continued to dig around it, just to get its overall shape and then when I finally uncovered the surface, I thought that's exactly what I think it is and I called the police. He went on to tell reporters, "they came over and took some photos of it and sent it off to police headquarters, who got a team from Colchester to come up and take a look at it. They were quite alarmed to say the least. We had six police cars in total and they cut off the entire area around here."
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama A hunter walking through a wooded area near 565 on Redstone stumbled across a cache of ordnance which included 20mm and 40mm rounds and a variety of fuzes. The hunter who had previously participated in a UXO awareness class, a requirement for hunters wishing to hunt on the base; called 911 to report the find.
Cambridge, United Kingdom A father and his two boys magnet fishing from a kayak in the River Cam pulled up a rusty hand grenade. The man paddled back to shore and called the police who responded with a bomb disposal team to safely dispose of the grenade.
Wailea, Hawaii An unexploded M49A2, 60mm mortar found during excavation at a Wailea residence was disposed of by an Army EOD team. Following the find, nearby residences were evacuated and Hoomua Drive was temporarily closed by the Maui Police Department's bomb squad.
The mortar was moved to an open field, where it was safely counter charged by EOD. The road was reopened, and residents were allowed back into the area.
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