Sandwich Bay, United Kingdom HM Coast Guard and Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) EOD personnel responded to reports of ordnance finds along the beach. An exclusion zone was established around the items as teams prepared for demo operations.

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Vero Beach, Florida When Jeff Emlet's metal detector went off on Vero Beach recently, it prompted him to use his bare hands to dig up what turned out to be an old landmine. Realizing that it was likely ordnance, he dropped his metal detector and ran back to warn others in the area to stay away.

County fire officials confirmed it was a landmine, and EOD from Patrick AFB responded to remove it. Nearby Round Island Beach Park was used for WWII training at the Fort Pierce Naval Amphibious Training Base, and several land mines have washed up in the area over the past few years.

Officials issued a reminder the those who think they have stumbled on an old land mine are advised to back away immediately and call 911.

Plymouth, United Kingdom Jamie Williams was shocked when he pulled out a UXO from friend's garden with his bare hands. Luckily he realized the danger the item presented as he recognized it from history lessons at school.

According to reports, Williams said, "I pulled it out of the skip with my hands and I thought it was a lump of metal or a brick. I looked at it and knew straight away what it was and put it on the wall." He then called the police who cordoned off the area before Royal Navy EOD arrived to safely remove the unidentified device.

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West Sussex, England The Selsey Coastguard Rescue Team was called to a West Sussex beach to reports of a suspect hand grenade discovered by someone with a metal detector. Sussex Police also responded to fill sandbags to protect the device protect from the incoming tide.

Unfortunately, EOD were unable to arrive before the tide covered it. After waiting for low tide, EOD arrived on the scene and confirmed the UXO to be a WWI era hand grenade. It was safely removed for disposal.

Dear UXOInfo.com Readers,

Happiest of Holidays to all of our readers and their families. Thank you for your support throughout 2018. We are looking forward to sharing the latest news from the UXO world with all of you in the coming year. In this season of giving, please remember to support the EOD Warrior Foundation and their upcoming Polar Bear Plunge. Details on ways to participate or make a donation can be found in the article below.

This month we have three UXO-related stories from Capitol Hill, the creation of a new Congressional UXO / Demining Caucus which will focus on international demining, news of an Army National Guard investigation into the training and equipping of the 430th EOD Company following the death of EOD Specialist James Slape in October, and an Army memorandum encouraging alternatives be sought for open burning disposal.

Please continue to contact us with your own stories as your contributions and feedback makes our newsletter better for all our readers. To share your own story, contact Rhonda Crowley at rhonda@uxoinfo.com for details on how to submit an article.

UXOInfo.com is brought to you by Ordnance Holdings, Inc. (OHI) - please keep us in mind to support your next UXO project from consulting and UXO construction support to full-service remediation and removals. For more information on OHI's capabilities and services, please visit our website at www.ordnanceholdings.com. Finally, when it comes to UXO, please remember the 3R's of Recognize, Retreat, Report.

Happy New Year,

Jenna

Clare, IrelandAn army bomb disposal team has carried out a controlled explosion on two objects discovered at an Irish recycling plant. The items, believed to be a training mortar and smoke grenade, were found at a depot operated by waste management company Clean Ireland.

Police were called to the facility after staff sorting through bags of waste found the suspicious devices. Bomb disposal experts were called in and a Cork-based EOD team was dispatched to the scene while police cordoned off the area.

After examining the objects at the scene, they were removed to a secure location where the items were disposed of by a controlled explosion. Police are now working with the staff at the recycling center to determine where the items originated.

Cologne, Germany Over 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes after a WWII era bomb was found behind a gas station. The UXO, identified as a U.S. 500 pound bomb was found during excavation work in the southern suburb of Cologne-Poll.

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Washington, D.C. The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment (ASA IE&E) issued a memorandum that Army Commands make a concerted effort to reduce reliance on Open Burn (OB) as a method for disposal of explosives-contaminated waste and explosive wastes.

Definitions are provided for "explosives-contaminated wastes" (e.g, plastic, paper, cardboard, packaging that is found by a qualified individual to be contaminated with explosives) and "explosives waste" (e.g., out of spec products, limited quantities of production waste).

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Cornwall, United Kingdom part of a popular beach was cordoned off by police after it was a reported that a suspect item resembling a sea mine washed ashore. The Coastguard and police responded and setup a 150 foot exclusion zone around the item as they awaited for a Royal Navy EOD to arrive.

EOD based in Plymouth in the early evening to investigate. According to reports from the incident, initial design features of the item including the shape, size and condition suggested that they item was a sea mine. However, after further investigation and removal of sand, the item was found to be the lid of a barbecue.

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