A MDing Find In My Area

[Bridge End Farm]

This was a couple of miles from my home here:


Florida Boys Find Live WWII Grenade with Metal Detector:

PACE, Fla. — An 8-year-old boy and his friend found a live, World War II-era hand grenade while searching for buried treasure with a metal detector.

Sidney Mathis and his friend had found nails, bolts and a toy car by sweeping the detector over a field near their home Thursday. But it was their other find that alarmed Sidney's father, Chris Mathis.

He arrived home Thursday to find the boys about to put the grenade into a bucket of water. Chris Mathis grabbed the grenade and dangled it outside the window of his sport utility vehicle as he drove away from the apartment complex.

Mathis had second thoughts.

"I hit a bump and that's about the time I realized moving the grenade wasn't the brightest thing to do," he said.

Two members of an Air Force explosives unit from nearby Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle took the grenade and destroyed it Friday morning.

 

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[Bridge End Farm]

more to the find:

They’d already found nails, pennies and bolts, but Thursday two Pace boys found a live grenade.

Sidney Mathis, 8, and his friend were playing with a metal detector in a grassy area near the apartment complex where they live on Select Court.

When the detector’s alarm sounded, the boys hoped they’d find a treasure worth more than the Hot Wheels car they had previously dug up.

Their Valentine’s Day discovery was much more unusual. Sidney and his friend unearthed the bottom portion of a World War II-era grenade. Using the metal detector, they eventually found the top part of the hand-held bomb that contains the “pin.”

Chris Mathis had come over to visit with his son at the apartment complex Thursday afternoon.

“They had a bucket they were putting water in and said, ‘Dad, you gotta see this. You gotta see this!’ ”

Mathis said he immediately took the grenade from his son before he could place it in water. Sidney’s mom thought the grenade was a toy.

The first thing that popped in Mathis’ head, he said, was to get the explosive away from the boys and the apartment complex. He got in his SUV and held the grenade outside the window as he drove. Mathis eventually put the grenade in the floorboard.

“I hit a bump and that’s about the time I realized moving the grenade wasn’t the brightest thing to do.”

Mathis’ wife called the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office for help. They, in turn, called Mathis and told him to pull over and exit the vehicle. Mathis found an empty parking lot near Target in Pace and waited for help. When deputies arrived, they asked him to step at least 200 feet away.


Then two members from Hurlburt Air Field’s Explosive Ordinance Division arrived. They put on helmets and body armor and placed the grenade on a bed of sand to transport it.

“It was still dangerous because it had explosives in it,” said S Sgt. Joseph Deslauriers with the EOD. The grenade had also been exposed to the elements, which Deslauriers said tend to make explosives more sensitive over time.

Deslauriers and his partner transported the grenade back to the base where they destroyed it early Friday morning.

“We used a good amount of explosives on it because it was cased in thick metal,” Deslauriers said.

But the metal casing might not have been enough to prevent an explosion if the boys had dropped the grenade or placed it in the bucket of water.

“Kids are going to do kid things,” Deslauriers said, stressing safety education and encouraging people to not pick something up they expect to be explosive. “It’s better to take that chance it could be dangerous and call for help.”

Mathis said he explained to his son how dangerous the situation really was.

“We told him he could find jewelry and things like that, but he couldn’t play with bombs,” Mathis said. “I think I called him four times last night to tell him that.

 

[River Rat]

That's kinda scary...thanks for sharing this with us.

RR

 

[Noodle]

Oh, man! Close call. Why would water set it off? -Noodle

 

[Bridge End Farm]

Oh, man! Close call. Why would water set it off? -Noodle

there are possible reactivity issues when explosives become wet

 

[Ken from Atlanta]

I'm really not sure how I would react to finding a live grenade especially in my YARD!!!

I seem to remember hearing about another one being found around Atlanta a while back by a crew that was mowing along a city street or something, you'd think that people would be more careful about losing their grenades.

 

[Bridge End Farm]

I'm really not sure how I would react to finding a live grenade especially in my YARD!!!

I seem to remember hearing about another one being found around Atlanta a while back by a crew that was mowing along a city street or something, you'd think that people would be more careful about losing their grenades.

Yeah I know what you mean. I tryed to be thoughtful, so I gave (tossed) all mine to someone before I left the middle east.