SAN RAFAEL: WORLD WAR II ORDNANCE FOUND IN GARAGE

CBS 5 ^ | Wed, 23 Jul 2008

[nickcarraway]

Police evacuated a San Rafael neighborhood Tuesday afternoon when live World War II ordnance was discovered in a garage.

The resident said he found two hand grenades and a mortar that had been brought back from the war as souvenirs by his wife's late husband and had been stored in the garage for more than 50 years, police spokeswoman Margo Rohrbacher said.

Police found a live 37mm anti-tank projectile, a live hand grenade and an inert mortar.

The Napa County Sheriff's Department bomb squad and the San Rafael Fire Department evacuated residents on Wolfe and Antonette avenues after the discovery was reported at 12:13 p.m.

Wolfe Avenue and portions of D Street were closed until the items were detonated. Streets were reopened by 4:30 p.m., Rohrbacher said.

[nickcarraway]

Her first husband was much cooler.

[Slings and Arrows]

*sigh* The only thing I ever found in my garage was water damage.

[Gaffer]

I’d have rather found a Thompson or a paratrooper carbine.....

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I’d much rather have a P-51 Mustang in the garage.

That would make my day.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Notice, they brought in the Napa County bomb squad. Was the Marin County bomb squad meditating at the time?

[DBrow]

Mortars, being empty tubes, tend to be inert.

[jonascord]

The fuse assembly unscrews from the body of a grenade. Once that is off, you can tell if the grenade is live or not by the presence of a fuse tube with a blasting cap crimped onto the end of it.

The only real danger is whether the main charge has degraded over the years and become sensitive.

[wbill]

Yes, I too wondered how exactly they detonated a mortar. Packed some explosives around it? Filled it with explosives and blew it up?

Seems a bit of overkill to me, for an inert object.

Or do you suppose that the reporter doesn't know his a$$ from his elbow? :-)

[Slings and Arrows]

Or do you suppose that the reporter doesn't know his a$$ from his elbow?

They can test for that these days.

[Dumpster Baby]

I’d much rather have a P-51 Mustang in the garage.

That would make my day.

That actually happened in St. Louis - a disassembled Mustang stored away in original condition in 1949. Look for this book on Amazon:

[neb52]

13 out of 14. Missed the last one.

[exit82]

With a drop tank, no less.

Way cool.

[Slings and Arrows]

I’d say you know the difference.