Posted on 05/07/2008 9:35:52 AM PDT by Stonewall Jackson
Munitions pose no danger
FORT KNOX — World War I-era munitions found at a construction site at Fort Knox pose no danger, Army ordnance experts determined.
Construction workers at the site of the future Human Resources Center of Excellence discovered the mortar shells Friday while moving soil for a sewer system.
As an additional safety measure, an expert from the Army Corps of Engineers was brought in to inspect the site and present the post with options for proper site clean up and disposal.
Based on inspection findings, Col. Mark Needham, garrison commander, directed an ordnance expert be hired to maintain site security and integrity.
Construction at the site will soon resume, Fort Knox officials said.
Fort Knox was an artillery range back then, so it makes sense that they would have chemical shells to train with.
One of my coworkers was out at the construction site when they discovered these shells and he said he couldn't believe how fast that entire area was cleared of construction workers.
No where in the article, neither as posted nor as presented by the News Enterprise, does it say CHEMICAL SHELLs.
I posted a story a couple of days ago about a civil war shell fired from a ship into Virginia soil that killed the guy who was cleaning it this week.
I would stand back and let some other guy use the backhoe for the rest of the afternoon if I was there....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2011485/posts
If the inspector agrees to remain on the site I might, might, work there.
Oh my Goodness! When I first glanced at this headline, I read it “Mutants”
Just saw Ironman and have been doing too much Marvel Comic research apparently. Yikes!
I heard the guy who was recently killed by the Civil War shell he was working on said the same thing.
A guy in Oregon recently lost both legs while trying to recycle the brass from a WW1 era French artillery round.
opinion?
...unless used properly...
I remember a story about a teacher who picked up a shell...I think it was WWII ordinance. Had it on his desk as a paperweight. A wasp was bothering him, and he picked up the shell and slammed it on the wasp, which had landed on the desk. Lost most of his hand.
See, Don’t do anything that can get a wasp mad . . .
Things designed to go boom have a long life. The French are still disposing of tons of recently discovered unexploded ordnance from WWI battlefields, 90 years after the Armistice.
I beleieve I’d be be placing a call to the nearest Army EOD unit, pronto.
So why are they (WWI munitions) still killing kids in France???
But what about the nuclear shells?
LOL!
Why were they burying old city laws SJ ?:o)
Sarcasm aside ......LOL !
We found buried ordnance all the time and had too deal with it as encountered. Routine for any old or in some cases new military installations.
Stay safe , Hope yer well SJ !
Finding those will sure motivate you to move.
“We found buried ordnance all the time and had too deal with it as encountered. Routine for any old or in some cases new military installations.”
When I was at Ft. Polk, our Squadron Commander (SCO) wanted target reference points consisting of 2 8ft pickets and a VS-17 panel with some IR-15 Phoenix lights (programable IR trnasmitters) for the night fire placed downrange.
So my platoon got the detail and when we went downrange we found quite a few unexploded Rockeye II bomblets in the area where they wanted the TRP’s. So in the end the SCO didn’t get his TRP’s for the “tactical gunnery” that he wanted.
The whole thing was a joke because at the time we were undermanned meaning we couldn’t field all of our vehicles, and it wasn’t even for record either.
I work with one of the EOD guys who was sent over to take care of these shells, and he informed me that they were mustard gas shells.
LOL......Poor planning on the CO’s part ?
I still have a have a few dozen of the IR Phoenix Jr Programables. (that fell off a truck) Awesome tool for marking .
Sub-munitions were not my favorite stuff to deal with . We would BIP such in most cases and PUCA aka Pick Up and Carry Away the rest in most cases to a general demo area when we did surface and sub surface clearance operations of UXO.
Not fun to do such at night ........:o) Or Day !
Stay safe and my respects and gratitude to you and your family for serving !
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