Couple finds an explosive surprise

[darrels joy]

UPDATE: Couple finds an explosive surprise
Two World War II mortar rounds turn up in veteran's home
By TERESA RESSEL
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Before looking at two World War II-era mortar shells, two soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood speak with City Manager Larry Barton, Chief Doug Calvert, City Building Inspector Dwayne Hackworth and a man who found the shells. - Teresa Ressel / Daily Journal
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BONNE TERRE — Friday afternoon was a long afternoon for a Virginia couple who were in town to clean out his brother’s house for an upcoming auction.

The man, who was born and raised in Bonne Terre, said he had been put in charge of disposing of his brother’s property. His brother had recently moved to an assisted care facility in Illinois.

On Friday, the auctioneer was going through the garage and found two 60 millimeter military mortar shells in cardboard boxes.

When the auctioneer showed it to the man, the man remembered his oldest brother had brought the shells back from World War II. His brother had been with Patton’s Third Army.

He wanted to dispose of them properly even though he was certain his brother had emptied the powder from the shells decades ago.

At about noon, he put them in his car and drove with his unknowing wife to City Hall where he spoke to an officer. Bonne Terre Officer Rick Queen came outside and looked at the shells.

Concerned, the officer contacted City Manager Larry Barton, who ordered the evacuation of City Hall, two blocks of Allen Street and a block of Fite as a precaution. Barton said you can’t be too careful in this day and age.

The man said now he realizes he should have either left the shells alone or carried them to an open field and then notified police. “But from my viewpoint it was safe,” he said.

“He thought they were harmless and they very well could be,” Barton said while the streets were still blocked off. “... I can’t tell you how many times he apologized.”

Barton said two people from the Army Ordinance Division in Farmington looked at the rounds early Friday afternoon and determined they were “the real thing.”

There was no way to safely tell if they were filled with powder.

Two soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood arrived at about 4 p.m. They loaded up the shells, which could hold enough TNT for a five-pound charge if they are filled.

Escorted by police and firefighters, the soldiers took them to a field in the city’s Industrial Park to detonate them. Residents around the city reported hearing the very loud boom. The soldiers handed over a few fragments of the blown-up mortar shells to the city manager.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.

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