My visit from the "BOMB DISPOSAL SQUAD"
Discussion
Missus comes home at lunchtime to get a bite to eat. She finds a bunch of coppers and a big van with "BOMB DISPOSAL UNIT" written on it parked in our drive and a bunch of guys wearing army uniforms mulling about.
"Sorry luv, can't come down here" says one copper to her.
"I live here" retorts my missus.
"Oh bugger" says the copper "we've found an unexploded grenade 'round the back of your house, and we need to detonate it" !!!!!!
At which point she rings me to tell me whats going on. Couldn't believe my ears doesn't quite sum it up. I was quite tempted to rush back home to watch the fireworks . . but then they told her to go away, as it may not be safe. So at this point, I started to worry about my EVO, parked 100 or so yards away from where the old WW2 relic was found. Oh, and my missus . . . and the house.
Anyway, she went back to work, and when we got home this evening, everything seemed to be intact.
There is a patch of disused land behind our house which has been recently taken over by developers with a view to building some flats. Apparently it was one of the builders that came across the grenade. Bloody lucky he didn't hit it with his spade or something. Must have scared the shite out of him!!
Pity the bomb squad didn't give us any more info on the find - probably would have been quite interesting.
This has certainly made me think twice about the gardening - hated doing it at the best of times - at least I now have a reason not to do it!!
"Sorry luv, can't come down here" says one copper to her.
"I live here" retorts my missus.
"Oh bugger" says the copper "we've found an unexploded grenade 'round the back of your house, and we need to detonate it" !!!!!!
At which point she rings me to tell me whats going on. Couldn't believe my ears doesn't quite sum it up. I was quite tempted to rush back home to watch the fireworks . . but then they told her to go away, as it may not be safe. So at this point, I started to worry about my EVO, parked 100 or so yards away from where the old WW2 relic was found. Oh, and my missus . . . and the house.
Anyway, she went back to work, and when we got home this evening, everything seemed to be intact.
There is a patch of disused land behind our house which has been recently taken over by developers with a view to building some flats. Apparently it was one of the builders that came across the grenade. Bloody lucky he didn't hit it with his spade or something. Must have scared the shite out of him!!
Pity the bomb squad didn't give us any more info on the find - probably would have been quite interesting.
This has certainly made me think twice about the gardening - hated doing it at the best of times - at least I now have a reason not to do it!!
Nothing to worry about it happens several times a week nation wide. The end result will be some poor sod in a blast suit will go forward pop it in a explosion proof box lob it in the back of the van and bugger off. They'll then attach a little bit of plastic to it and pop it on range when they get back, 9/10 it will be so eroded it won't even add to the bang the plastic makes, it's only really the big air dropped beasties that create a stir. Of course your local coppers won't see this very often and tend to over react a little when it's first found.
Scare mongering poo I'm afraid the Montgomery is as safe as houses the bigest risk is purely as a wreck and the fact that it protudes above the water line. The cargo went inert years ago but it's still a popular myth that it'd take out half of Sheppey if it ever went up. The fact is that it would still cost too much money and have a degree of risk to disturb it therefore it's safer to just let sleeping dogs lie. I can however confidently say that it would not "explode" and create massive shorebased damage if it was struck by a vessel.
>> Edited by mel on Thursday 24th November 10:08
>> Edited by mel on Thursday 24th November 10:08
mel said:popular myth???? mate, it's the last vestige of hope for a lot of us. If you've ever been to Sheppey, you'll know what I mean. Oh Lord, let it be cleansed by the great North Sea, etc... plus I'd be able to sit outside The Old Neptune down on the beach at Whitstable with a pint and watch the Montogomery put the UK back in the space race.
... popular myth ...
A few years ago my neighbour was clearing some brambles, digging around he found a large metal disk about 10cm deep and 40cm diameter with a big "dimple" on top. He dug it up and chucked it over to his son to see if he knew what it was. He didnt know and chucked in the back of the pickup. He continued digging and found a stash of 8 grenades and 5-6 of those german "stick" grenades.
They called the police, the disk they were chucking around was an anti-tank land mine!
Bomb disposal came and cleared the land and in total found about half a tonne of explosives!
They called the police, the disk they were chucking around was an anti-tank land mine!
Bomb disposal came and cleared the land and in total found about half a tonne of explosives!
They found a few tons of WWII explosives buried under the new (when being built) course at Woburn Golf club a couple of years back. It was buried there as it wasn't needed or something and was something to do with D-Day as it was a staging post for equipment and....well....er.... amunition.
ATG said:
... popular myth ...
Amen to that!
This still makes me laugh: www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/15/norfolk_bomb_ordeal/
ATG said:
[ popular myth???? mate, it's the last vestige of hope for a lot of us. If you've ever been to Sheppey, you'll know what I mean. Oh Lord, let it be cleansed by the great North Sea, etc...
Sorry mate ain't never going to happen....Indeed perhaps it is a shame still most of the inbreds would have been able to swim away with their webbed toes but it would have atleast taken out some dads, uncles, brothers, cousins oooops oh no sorry that's all the same bloke
No seriously I've dived on the thing and used to get the annual assesment come across my desk every year, now days it's just a rusty hulk.
My uncle found a machine gun (rusted) in his drive when they dug it up. Where I live was a bombing alley in WW2 and there is a golf course there and when they landscaped it apparently every other day the Bomb Squad were down there blowing them up. Its quite cool. There are big vines in the wood and we used to swing over one of the bomb holes until my weight caused it to break and me to land at the bottom.
The worst bunch are the army and divers who bring stuff back with them.
The worst bunch are the army and divers who bring stuff back with them.
reminds me of an instance when i worked in the cenre of birmingham. a large number of police of all descriptions surrounded the building site i was on. vans cars coppers running about and i think even a chopper. we all stopped work to see what the fuss was about and it was a large holdall left up against our hoarding while the guy had nipped in the shop for something. i would hazard a guess at 5 mins from the bag being spotted to the cavalry turning up. this was about 3 years ago
Hi PEVO,
I saw the RLC Bomb Disposal Truck, heading round toward the A41 junct of the M25, I was heading the other way in the Chim! I wondered where he was off to! When I was in the Army, a mate of mine was an ATO (Ammunition Technical Officer) with the RLC (or RAOC as it was then). He worked on the Bomb Disposal team and had to attend many of these types of jobs, amazing how they turn up every now and again often at new developments/areas not previously built on!
Hope all was dealt with safely!
Cerby.
I saw the RLC Bomb Disposal Truck, heading round toward the A41 junct of the M25, I was heading the other way in the Chim! I wondered where he was off to! When I was in the Army, a mate of mine was an ATO (Ammunition Technical Officer) with the RLC (or RAOC as it was then). He worked on the Bomb Disposal team and had to attend many of these types of jobs, amazing how they turn up every now and again often at new developments/areas not previously built on!
Hope all was dealt with safely!
Cerby.
PEVO said:
So at this point, I started to worry about my EVO, parked 100 or so yards away from where the old WW2 relic was found. Oh, and my missus . . . and the house.
I wouldn't worry, hand grenades don't chuck bits that far... and they're certainly not as destructive as Hollywood would have you believe.
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