WWI Grenade found in a sewing machine

[dag]

<H2 class=insidestory>It's a grenade</H2>By Kenneth Fine

Goldsboro News-Argus

(Goldsboro, North Carolina)

Published in News on June 23, 2011

News-Argus/STEVE HERRING

 

It started with a thoughtful gesture -- the passing of a family heirloom from parents to their son and his wife. But when David and Susan Crooks started working to restore the antique sewing machine that recently made its way into their home, they made a discovery that left the couple feeling lucky to be alive.

 

At first, Susan thought the object sitting in one of the machine's drawers was an "old oil can."

 

"But then I got to thinking, 'This looks like a grenade,'" she said. "But why would there be a grenade in a sewing machine?"

 

She had no idea that hours later, a team of Air Force explosives experts would identify her find as a live piece of ordnance that dates back to World War I.

 

"I'm just glad I'm here to tell you about it," Susan said.

 

*

 

At just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, a call came into Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

 

It was a member of the Wayne County Sheriff's Department requesting support from the 4th Fighter Wing Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight.

 

"They were concerned that it was an actual live grenade," said Tech. Sgt. Tracy Passerotti, an EOD team leader.

 

Not long after taking that call, base officials had approved sending a group of airmen to the Crooks' home, which is located at 508 W. Hill St.

 

And after a "visual reconnaissance" mission, they confirmed what Susan suspected but still couldn't quite believe.

 

"The airman, he came out grinning, so I thought he was gonna say it was a fake," she said. "But he said, 'No ma'am. It's live.'"

 

EOD Flight Commander Capt. Taylor Valentine described the grenade as a World War I-era German egg frag grenade.

 

"And it was in fairly good condition," he said.

 

And there was certainly a chance, Valentine said, that, if handled improperly, the grenade could go off.

 

So armed with that knowledge, the EOD team transported the grenade to the Sheriff's Office's firing range and "disposed of it with explosives."

 

*

 

Back at the Crooks home, Susan called her father-in-law, Daniel.

 

"I said, 'Did you know there was a grenade in there?'" Susan said. "He said, 'What?'"

 

His wife, Doris, though, was not all that concerned.

 

"She said, 'Lord, I forgot it was in there,'" Susan said. "Apparently, her brother-in-law had brought it back."

 

And since it had made its way to the United States, the grenade, Doris insisted, had been tossed around by her son and his friends -- even taken to his elementary school for show and tell.

 

"She was adamant that there was no way it could have been live," Susan said.

 

The EOD team knows better.

 

And its members said they are happy to know they helped neutralize a potential tragedy.

 

"It's definitely gratifying knowing we can give back to the community," Valentine said. "It's not every day we get to see a World War I grenade."

 

[SI Gordon]

Very nice German "Egg" Grenade with porcelain ball pull. Thank goodness the cap didn't come off. One yank and pow!

[Jack's Son]

Although it was a nice specimen, better to not have a family tragedy. :thumbsup:

[Edward T.]

What an odd place to store a grenade.

[ordnance]

Well, call me a cynic but I'll be the first to call "BS" on the claim that it was live. There is no grenade on the planet that is easier to make inert than a WWI M1917 German egg. You simply unscrew the fuze and pour out the loose powder inside. It's one of the reasons they were a very popular souvenir and very common today.

 

And I'm supposed to believe that several kids had thrown it around and played with it and apparently never thought to look inside and see it was still filled? Really? Really?

 

My bet is on one of of two more likely scenarios.......A, it now resides in the EOD Unit collection of training aids. Or B, the Unit really operates "by the book", which would dictate they don't dismantle munitions or further investigate by unscrewing the fuze. So they assumed it was live, put it in the pit with a half pound of C4, and blew it up. Guaranteed there wouldn't be a secondary detonation here as the grenade never had a detonator or high explosive filling in the first place, only a burning time fuze and low explosive powder.

 

So they pulverized an empty grenade with an explosive charge, thereby giving back to the community and making us all safer. Gee, I sure feel safer now.

[WaA257]

This doesn't surprise me at all. In my 24 years on the job so far, I haven't had a year go by that we haven't had a call for live grenades. The first time was back in 1987. An old lady called HQ. and asked "Do you boys get rid of war souvenirs?' She showed up at the HQ. front desk with a brown paper lunch bag containing two live WWII fragmentation grenades. Another call I was sent to involved a lady who found a "bullet" in her basement. When I arrived, she walked up the stairs carrying a very live WWI British artillery round! I told her "Set that down slowly! That isn't a bullet!" It seems like the grenades always turn up in either the garage, or the sock drawers. It amazes me that in all thes years, no one has been blown up. Granted there are many Dewats out there, but believe me plenty of live ones are out there as well. My dad said he used to get the same calls on duty. One of his last calls was for a WWII German stick grenade in a sock drawer! It was live as well. Just my 2 cents.

[USMCRECON]

Well, call me a cynic but I'll be the first to call "BS" on the claim that it was live. There is no grenade on the planet that is easier to make inert than a WWI M1917 German egg. You simply unscrew the fuze and pour out the loose powder inside. It's one of the reasons they were a very popular souvenir and very common today.

 

And I'm supposed to believe that several kids had thrown it around and played with it and apparently never thought to look inside and see it was still filled? Really? Really?

 

My bet is on one of of two more likely scenarios.......A, it now resides in the EOD Unit collection of training aids. Or B, the Unit really operates "by the book", which would dictate they don't dismantle munitions or further investigate by unscrewing the fuze. So they assumed it was live, put it in the pit with a half pound of C4, and blew it up. Guaranteed there wouldn't be a secondary detonation here as the grenade never had a detonator or high explosive filling in the first place, only a burning time fuze and low explosive powder.

 

So they pulverized an empty grenade with an explosive charge, thereby giving back to the community and making us all safer. Gee, I sure feel safer now.

 

I dunno.....I guess you should feel safer. You have no idea whether the grenade was live or not.

 

While I was working as a police detective in Chicago, the uniform shift commander called me to the home of a man whose two kids were playing with something he said looked "Army". When I got there, I found they had two live (yes; really live...packed with chem agent and fuse) Vietnam era CS grenades. They also had a live ( yes, really live...still packed with plastic explosive and the shrapnel plate) claymore mine. Luckily they did not have the detonator or blasting cap for the Claymore. When we went to the home of the guy who gave the stuff to the kids, we found three M-26 grenades and another Claymore, that one was in the canvas bag and had both hellbox and blasting cap.

 

How did I know they were live? While in Vietnam with Marine Recon, I was sent to the 1st Engineer Bn to attend their EOD course. It was my additional duty as a Recon Marine. Assumptions should NEVER be made about unexploded ordnance...EVER. "Layman-experts" who make assumptions or take this stuff lightly often end up dead or missing extremities. Also, by the book is the ONLY way to do it. Not doing so would be highly unwise and dangerous. I think the EOD team did exactly what they should have done.

[chris3bs]

Always treat a weapon such as this "LIVE". Just as you would treat a gun as if it were ready to fire!

 

Chris

[LtRGFRANK]

Well, call me a cynic but I'll be the first to call "BS" on the claim that it was live. There is no grenade on the planet that is easier to make inert than a WWI M1917 German egg. You simply unscrew the fuze and pour out the loose powder inside. It's one of the reasons they were a very popular souvenir and very common today.

 

And I'm supposed to believe that several kids had thrown it around and played with it and apparently never thought to look inside and see it was still filled? Really? Really?

 

My bet is on one of of two more likely scenarios.......A, it now resides in the EOD Unit collection of training aids. Or B, the Unit really operates "by the book", which would dictate they don't dismantle munitions or further investigate by unscrewing the fuze. So they assumed it was live, put it in the pit with a half pound of C4, and blew it up. Guaranteed there wouldn't be a secondary detonation here as the grenade never had a detonator or high explosive filling in the first place, only a burning time fuze and low explosive powder.

 

So they pulverized an empty grenade with an explosive charge, thereby giving back to the community and making us all safer. Gee, I sure feel safer now.

Gee. By the Book Huh? How many stories must we read about an "expert" demilling something and them being picked up in pieces. Yes EOD does it By the book. And they go home at night to their families. Sorry after 25 years in Law Enforcement and having a son who's a Major in EOD I'm sorry for my rant, Robert

And pouring the powder out doesn't make it safe!!!

[TenthA86]

As a kid in the early 1960's I remember tossing 'dud' AT grenades from the closed Army base in the creek and letting the water 'demill' them. We'd pul the ends & dump the wet powder, then play with them. We stopped when one hit bottom wrong & showered us with mud & water...

 

In the '60's I remember my dad's gun shop calling the PD to haul away a box of WWII AT mines & grenades that a vet wanted to trade in towards a new carry piece. They just put 'em in the trunk of a squad & drove 'em to the local guard depot.

 

I also remember re-working a museum exhibit in the 1970's and cleaning a display of WWII pineapples and German 'mashers, only to find that they were live. The local PD took them out to their outdoor range & shot at them with service pistols until they blew. Duh.

 

My - how times have changed.

[CPTFrank]

The stupidity of home-inerting aside, you should never unscrew any part of an ordnance item by hand, especially old grenades or anything filled with lose powder or picric acid. The particles have a tendency to end up between the metal threads and can ignite under the force of the screwing/unscrewing action. Yes, this was an approved inerting action during WWII for Japanese hand grenades, and we are still cleaning up that mess as they are all over the country and they all continue to have a small residue of explosive salts in them due to the picric acid's chemical reaction with the metal container.

 

That quick safety message aside, please refrain from giving your "expert opinion" about how to inert ordnance items on this forum or in any other forum. You may get away with your stupidity a hundred times, but it's the 101th time that it will bite you in the rump (see previous topics about the inerter in Florida and the one in France).

 

When in doubt, call the police so they can call the bomb squad or EOD.

[17thairborne]

Its not just peoples sock drawers and sewing machines where this stuff resides. Here is a photo from a current sale on a US militaria sales site. Notice the primers and bursting charge. This might not pack too big of a punch, but it will snap off a finger and you'll probably hear "You'll shoot yer eye out!"

 

Oz

 

[17thairborne]

Its not just peoples sock drawers and sewing machines where this stuff resides. Here is a photo from a current sale on a US militaria sales site. Notice the primers and bursting charge. This might not pack too big of a punch, but it will snap off a finger and you'll probably hear "You'll shoot yer eye out!"

 

Oz

 

 

By the way...they guy is selling them for $5.00 each.

[USMCRECON]

Its not just peoples sock drawers and sewing machines where this stuff resides. Here is a photo from a current sale on a US militaria sales site. Notice the primers and bursting charge. This might not pack too big of a punch, but it will snap off a finger and you'll probably hear "You'll shoot yer eye out!"

 

Oz

 

They will indeed. While on one of the constantly manned OPs in Jan 68, one of my newly arrived Recon Marines was playing with the fuse from a grenade...he'd unscrewed it from the explosive body, thank goodness. We heard a pop and someone screaming and thought a sniper had crept close enough to take a shot.

 

However, when the Corpsman reached the down Marine, he had several fingers missing and blood was everywhere. Another Marine was also down with shrapnel in the back of his head and two others had minor flesh wounds; all from the grenade blasting cap. As he was waiting for the med'evac helo he told me he didn't think it would go off if removed from the grenade body.

[TJM]

In the case of the egg grenade, it was filled with black powder.