A rusty bomb covered in debris washed up on a California shore days after heavy surf pounded the coastline.
On New Year’s Eve, the Santa Cruz County sheriff’s bomb squad headed out to inspect the bomb at Pajaro Dunes, located between Santa Cruz and Monterey.
After an x-ray scan and visual inspection, authorities determined the device was an inert military ordnance – an item with no explosive materials, the sheriff’s office said on social media.
Once the bomb squad deemed the item safe, they called in personnel from the Travis Air Force Base to remove and transport the inert device, according to the sheriff’s office.
The device was later determined to be a US World War II-era Navy practice bomb, according to a statement from Travis Air Force Base, and it will remain with the base’s explosive ordnance disposal.
Remember, folks, if you, ever come across a bomb, mine, or anything else that looks a little bit like it might explode, get away, don’t try to handle it, and call the authorities. Even “practice bombs” like this one can be extremely dangerous, sometimes even moreso with age.
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In Belgium, hundreds of tons of unexploded ordnance from World War 1 are still being found and cleaned up, often chemical grenades as well. For 2022 the total figure was 166 ton. Almost everyday there is an intervention by the demining service. Occasionally people still get hurt or killed by it too.
And Belgium was just a small section of the WW1 frontline, the figures for France will probably be much higher.
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