Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

More Than 200 WWII Artillery Shells Found At Old Drive-In
msnbc ^ | 4/29/08 | WCAU-TV

Posted on 04/29/2008 12:12:18 PM PDT by No2much3

BURLINGTON COUNTY, N.J. - In South Jersey, the discovery of unexploded artillery shells from World War II has stalled plans to develop a new expo center. The sheer number of artillery shells staggered the mayor. It was found at the now closed Palmyra Drive-In Theater on Route 73.

"We were hoping, hoping to only find one or two or three maybe. We're now up to nearly 200, or 181 as reported to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, but there's since been another 20," Palmyra Mayor John Gural, Jr. said.

The Army was anxious to develop new anti-tank rounds for the military during World War II. So the secret test site was what later became the Palmyra Drive-In Theater.

The artillery shells were developed over at the Frankford Arsenal. And while some were tested on the site of what was to be the drive-in, other shells got there the old fashion way -- the Army actually fired them from Philadelphia, across the river, into Palmyra.

When the war ended, the Army said the site was cleaned up. The land returned to civilian use, which in this case became a drive-in, complete with concession stands.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: artillery; newjersey; pennsylvania; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last
Back in the good old days when this country was willing to go to great lengths to win the war. See if you could try and do this today and you would have so many special interest groups screaming at you. It would be impossible. It also shows how rural South Jersey was back then.
1 posted on 04/29/2008 12:12:19 PM PDT by No2much3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: No2much3
When the war ended, the Army said the site was cleaned up.

Army veracity all begins with the recruiters.

2 posted on 04/29/2008 12:19:35 PM PDT by decimon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3
But they are OLD WMDs so they don't count........
3 posted on 04/29/2008 12:21:28 PM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3
When the war ended, the Army said the site was cleaned up.

Yeah, just like that site in Orlando where there's now a subdivision and a school. They're still finding live ammo.

4 posted on 04/29/2008 12:26:18 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Who Would Montgomery Brewster Choose?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3
The sheer number of artillery shells staggered the mayor.

Check out the video of the mayor staggering across the parking lot.

5 posted on 04/29/2008 12:33:47 PM PDT by Rudder (Klinton-Kool-Aid FReepers prefer spectacle over victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3

There were even problem back then. Remember the scene from “Tora Tora Tora” where Gen Short was informed the Army was unable to get permission to install radar on a mountaintop in Hawaii, because of the Parks Dept and the Wildlife Preservation Society???


6 posted on 04/29/2008 12:40:24 PM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3

Well I can remember when there were some great explosions in the back of a drive-in theater.


7 posted on 04/29/2008 12:42:11 PM PDT by dblshot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No2much3

Damn. I went to that dirve-in in my younger days. I thought I was the cause of the fireworks. :^(


8 posted on 04/29/2008 12:42:39 PM PDT by mkmensinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dblshot
Well I can remember when there were some great explosions in the back of a drive-in theater.

Think I remember tossing a few artillery shells myself.

9 posted on 04/29/2008 12:43:29 PM PDT by Lazamataz (Secondhand Aztlan Smoke causes drug addiction obesity in global warming cancer immigrant terrorists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: mkmensinger

‘drive-in’ not dirve-in


10 posted on 04/29/2008 12:43:51 PM PDT by mkmensinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded

We has a similiar site in DC where they dug up mustard gas munitions from WWI


11 posted on 04/29/2008 12:50:47 PM PDT by catman67
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: No2much3
When the war ended, the Army said the site was cleaned up. The land returned to civilian use, which in this case became a drive-in, complete with concession stands.

And in all those years of people driving cars over them, bouncing cars over them, and walking to those concession stands and bathrooms over them, how many went off?

12 posted on 04/29/2008 12:55:30 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz
Think I remember tossing a few artillery shells myself.

Me too. But I guess thoses were the duds they were referring to.

13 posted on 04/29/2008 12:55:49 PM PDT by capydick ("History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: El Gato
And in all those years of people driving cars over them, bouncing cars over them, and walking to those concession stands and bathrooms over them, how many went off?

Maybe they were all inert training rounds. The stupid media would'nt know the difference.

14 posted on 04/29/2008 12:59:47 PM PDT by saminfl (,/i)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: capydick; Lazamataz
Think I remember tossing a few artillery shells myself.///Me too. But I guess thoses were the duds they were referring to.

LOL! Ouch!

15 posted on 04/29/2008 1:01:24 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (just b/c you're paranoid,doesn't mean "they" aren't out to get you..our hopes were dashed by CINOs :)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: dblshot

Are you sure you don’t mean the in the back seat at a drive-in theater? :o


16 posted on 04/29/2008 1:06:26 PM PDT by 21twelve (Don't wish for peace. Pray for Victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

Not always the back seat.


17 posted on 04/29/2008 1:16:41 PM PDT by dblshot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: No2much3

You know just last month a errant artillery shell being tested at Picatinny Arsenal in North Jersey veered off course and landed in a home over a mile from the launch site.

The Army still tests fires live experimental rounds in NJ on a regular basis.


18 posted on 04/29/2008 1:20:03 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JerseyHighlander

The Picatinny Arsenal had a HUGE explosion way back (WWII I suppose or before) that scattered live shells over a huge area. They put a fence around it all and declared it off-limits - problem solved! I always wondered about what trophy deer might be found back in there!?


19 posted on 04/29/2008 1:41:36 PM PDT by 21twelve (Don't wish for peace. Pray for Victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: JerseyHighlander
I remember when the Army Corps of Engineers pumped about 100 yards of sand in front of the sea wall along Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach and Long Branch

when they began vacuuming sand up off shore and then pumping it onto Sea Bright they redefined the concept of sea shells

the army had been firing shells out into the ocean for years just where they began to gather sand and when they pumped the sand from onto the shore hundreds of shells were planed on the beach

the project was delayed and some very nervous people with metal detectors spent a couple of months planting little flags on the new sand then they were supposedly all dug up. The shells likely came from the batteries out on Sandy Hook which have been there since the revolutionary war

.

20 posted on 04/29/2008 1:44:13 PM PDT by Elle Bee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson