Posted on 07/02/2007 1:10:20 PM PDT by pacelvi
Pensioner used live artillery shell as a doorstop for 20 years Last updated at 19:45pm on 2nd July 2007
For decades the seven-inch-long shell had been a family memento, polished and given pride of place on the mantlepiece.
The First World War relic also served as a toy and finally, for the past 20 years, as a front doorstop at the home of 68-year-old Thelma Bonnett.
At any time during all those years, however, it could have exploded.
The German squat shell was live, packed with its original payload and with its firing mechanism primed, experts have said.
It was only when a neighbour saw the shell outside Mrs Bonnett's door that the danger became clear.
The police were called and they summoned Royal Navy bomb disposal experts to the house in Paignton, Devon.
Several neighbours were evacuated from their homes and the device was taken to a local quarry and exploded.
It had been in the family for nearly a century after her grandfather Arthur Croxall brought it home in 1918. "I had no idea it was dangerous," Mrs Bonnett said.
Thelma Bonnett was somewhat taken aback by the news that the family heirloom was in fact fatally dangerous
"Grandfather picked it up on his travels with the Merchant Navy in
1918. My father used to polish it all the time and kept it on the mantelpiece.
"It looked German because of the writing on the top.
"When I was young, five of us children would play with it. I don't think he would have brought it back if he'd known it was live."
The mortar shell was seen propping open the door by neighbour John Malinovskis.
He said: "I put two and two together and thought, 'That really shouldn't be there'.
"I asked Thelma if she knew about it and she said, 'Oh yes, it's from the war'. She said her father had polished it and kept it on the sideboard."
Mrs Bonnett's son Steve added: "I remember it in my grandparents' house when I was growing up. I probably played with it a few times. It was just one of those things that was always around."
A spokesman for the bomb squad said a firing mechanism had been activated during the First World War but the shell failed to go off. The mechanism had since fallen off but the 'live' charge could have exploded at any time.
Mortar shells are fired at a steep angle with a plunging trajectory so they either explode in the air above the enemy positions or upon impact.
Light and portable, mortars were an effective weapon on the Western Front where soldiers faced one another in well-defended trenches.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The shell was packed full of explosives and it could have gone off at any time.
"It was brought back from France in 1914 and had been used in battle when it had been fired but failed to go off.
"There is a time delay on these type of shells. A brass ring could be turned on top which gave them enough time to fire it to go off in the air or on the ground."
Every now and then someone intervenes to save someone else from the Darwin Award.
terrorism by pensioners?? (ha!)
Apparently.
“There is a time delay on these type of shells. A brass ring could be turned on top which gave them enough time to fire it to go off in the air or on the ground.”
Must have been on the Decades setting.
A lot of guys brought stuff back from WWI that could be dangerous. My Grand Uncle had an artillery shell but it was definitly empty of explosives.
Heard of some dumb troop who had a fired mortar round on top of his metal locker. He decides he needs to test it to see if it was a dud. He hooked his pistol belt on to the round and yanked it off the locker and on to the floor. Kaboom!
“How many times have I told you damn kids not to slam the ...”
BOOM!!
H
LOL!!
Ahhhh...no wonder these elderly folks get accosted by airport security!
Many of the deco line stands/guides in the Navy were 'enerted' and polished bras shells.
Have the bottom 2" of a 5/32 polished and collecting paperclips beside the desk here...
It appears that every reporter is forced to include something in every article that showcases their ignorance.
Mortars are fired at steep angles, so that objects located behind obstructions (non-line of sight) can be struck from relatively close range.
I know of one individual that kept a shell on his fireplace mantle and when they returned from Church the fireplace was in shambles. The shell was missing and the only explanation was that it exploded.
A spokesman for the bomb squad said a firing mechanism had been activated during the First World War but the shell failed to go off. The mechanism had since fallen off but the 'live' charge could have exploded at any time.
Explosives are alway dangerous, true, but bulk explosives are chosen for their stability and the most dangerous part of a shell is the primer. I also know that some of the explosives used in shells get increasingly unstable with time.
First, its Europe and all things "warlike" must be destroyed.
Second, the explosive fill had to be assumed to be highly unstable after 90 years.
But then again...
Far more interesting than one of those black, cast-iron dachschunds you can wipe your shoes on.
Because in WWI some shell filler explosives were Picric Acid. If the varnish protecting the interior of the metal casing deteriorated, shock-sensitive picrates would form. Even picric acid by itself can become sensitive if dried. It was replaced by the less sensitive TNT.
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