Posted on 11/26/2024 11:19:27 AM PST by Red Badger
No matter what students bring to future "show and tells" at Orchard Junior School in the Southampton area of England, they will never be able to top this year's spectacle that shut down and evacuated the school.
One bonkers little tyke brought in a bit of vintage "unexploded ordinance" to show his mates.
The school quickly evacuated all the students, called the police, and texted the parents:
Schools are being closed & evacuated - please collect your child from Noadswood field ASAP.
Imagine getting that little note in the middle of the school day.
Laura Holloway, a mother of one of the students was at work at the time. She said,
It was so worrying. Another parent had called saying there were police everywhere. I knew my youngest would have been so scared.
But, she added:
Both schools seemed to deal with it all very well and had the kids lined up and checked off - it must have been very upsetting for everyone involved.
Once the students were out, the police showed up and sent in the bomb squad.
The police's full statement said: ‘We were called at about 1.30pm to a report that a child had brought what may have been a potentially unexploded ordnance to Orchard Junior School.
‘The school was calmly evacuated and a disposal team attended to take the item away to be destroyed as a precaution.'
Not an easy task by any means.
The real question everyone wants to know is "What kind of ‘historic incendiary device' are we talking about here?"
This is England after all. They've been blowing stuff up and getting blown up for centuries.
It could've been anything from a 16th-century mortar to a WWII hand grenade to that morning's beans on toast.
You mean you’ve seen ordnance, not ordinance ...?
Ordnance is the correct term when it is in reference to armaments/munitions, etc. Ordinance is akin to a local law against littering or something. But I have seen Ordinance used incorrectly once or twice wrt munitions during WWII and writings in some manuals....
It’s misused most of the time, actually.
OK, Undeaders!
Welcome to the new Home of the Undead Thread!
Cookies and hot cocoa on the mezzanine, or the drinks of your choice in the bar, as usual.
Find your new cubby, and make yourselves at home!
Danger UXB....great series. Those butterfly bombs were wicked.
Thank you! Just what I needed!
It’s been forever since I had any of these! 💖
Before we get much farther into posting, we all need to give Red Badger a vote of thanks for loaning us this thread to fold, spindle, tear, crumple and mutilate to our heart’s content!
Thanks, Red Badger!
You’re welcome!
And for anyone who wants a walk on the slightly alcoholic wild side...
Screwball Eggnog!
Thanks. At my age things don’t always come together as they
should. But life goes on, take care.
Busted!
Thank you, RB, for this and for all of your other illuminating posts!
At my age I don’t even have all the parts to come together...
Orange juice and vodka is a screwdriver.
Milk of magnesia and vodka is a Phillips screwdriver.
Prune juice and vodka is a pile driver...
Priceless, as usual.
My old artillery unit was setting up at Fort Drum here in NY one fine annual training, were positioned in the decommissioned m203 range off Alexandria road.
We were “completely assured that there is NO UXO in THIS LOCATION”.
So heading back to the gunline from having field hots at chow I hear the distinct “Tiiink” sound of a live 203 grenade bouncing off the tie of my boot.
I’m told I stood in place face contorted in rage while the vertical hold control failed.
I looked down, considered my options, then picked it up.
“Got sumptin for the Capt here, sar’nt” I said as I gently palmed it into the hand of my Gunny.
He near crapped himself once he opened his fingers yo see what I’d slipped him.
Then he looked at the captain.
“Present for you, sir” he says as ge drops it into the captains open hand from about a foot or more above.
The captain didn’t drop it, but he contorted like he was trying to run away from his hand.
We stopped operation for awhile, doing artillery live fire from there was scrubbed, and we were talked to about UXO and not picking it up.
I piped up about “how about not setting us up on top of it to begin with.”
A bunch of others chimed in about how absolutely disturbed the ground will be when we fire.
We weee repositioned not too long after.
Found an 88mm mortar round while digging the powder pit...
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