UXO Incidents
Although the DoD has made a concerted effort to prevent accidents involving military munitions, such accidents do occur. The Army has developed this web site to educate the public about the hazards associated with military munitions, particularly, UXO.
Army-wide analyses of accidents involving military munitions and civilian personnel indicate that failure to respect the explosive hazards associated with munitions, particularly UXO, is the main cause of accidents involving munitions. Remember military munitions were designed to destroy enemy weapons or kill or incapacitate the enemy. Soldiers are only allowed to handle and use military munitions after extensive training. Soldiers that respond to UXO are Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel. The training requirements for these highly trained and specially equipped teams are both stringent and far more extensive because of the increased hazards. DoD only authorizes EOD personnel to respond to from local law enforcement personnel for support of a discovery of munitions by the public.
The best way to avoid an incident and being added to this website, as an example, is to learn and remember the 3Rs (Recognize, Retreat, and Report). Remember, if you discover or think you have discovered a UXO, do not touch or disturb it, but call 911.
True Stories
Incident 1. In 2004, police in Georgia evacuated several homes and businesses following the explosion of a trash bin that contained UXO. Although, the sanitation workers picking up the garbage were unharmed, the explosion destroyed the trash container, shattered the garbage truck window, and threw the truck forward several feet, knocking out a fence. An EOD unit removed four high explosive 20mm rounds that remained in the truck following the explosion. This incident was believed to be related to the arrest of two suspects who were caught wandering on an operational aerial gunnery range.
Incident 2. In 2004, a man brought a bucket of grenades to a local police station in Delaware. The police immediately recognized the danger and evacuated the building. After evacuating the building, the police waited for the police bomb squad and EOD. The man found the grenades in crushed clamshells he had purchased to pave his driveway. An Army investigation determined that this discovery was to be only one of a series of similar discoveries that resulted from discarded military munitions being recovered from the ocean during commercial fishing. The Army immediately took action to educate the public on the three R’s (recognize, retreat, report) for UXO. Although the man recognized that the grenades were of a great enough concern to involve the police, he did not recognize that by picking up and moving the grenades he was placing himself and others in danger.
Incident 3. In 2004, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel was closed when construction workers identified 12 military munitions at a former scrap yard. One of the items was a 4,000 pound WWII-era bomb. EOD responded to this area that had a long industrial history. Only after an extensive inspection by military experts were these munitions determined to be inert--not to contain explosives--and not to present an explosive hazard.
Incident 4. In 2004, an antique bottle hunter searching a wooded area in Georgia uncovered an unusual glass item. Initially, the glass item was suspected to be an old bottle, or even a flashlight. On further inspection, a UXO was suspected. Once the hunter recognized the hazard, he contacted the local police and a bomb squad responded. The bomb squad called EOD for support after determining the item was a military munitions (UXO). The UXO, a WWII era 40mm anti-aircraft shell, was safely removed and properly disposed of by the EOD team without incident.
Incident 5. In 2004, police in Georgia evacuated several homes and businesses following the explosion of a trash bin that contained UXO. Although, the sanitation workers picking up the garbage were unharmed, the explosion destroyed the trash container, shattered the garbage truck window, and threw the truck forward several feet, knocking out a fence. An EOD unit removed four high explosive 20mm rounds that remained in the truck following the explosion. This incident was believed to be related to the arrest of two suspects who were caught wandering on an operational aerial gunnery range.
Incident 6. The strong winds and heavy rains from the 2004 land fall of Hurricane Jeanne, partially exposed an unexploded 10-foot long Tiny Tim rocket in the driveway a Florida residence. EOD responded and removed the 1940s-era rocket. These rockets were used in training for WWII's D-Day invasion. A few days following discovery of this rocket, a second unexploded rocket was found along the sea wall near where the first rocket was found. In 2004, EOD teams in Florida responded to five explosives and emergency calls after hurricanes.
Incident 7. In Charleston, South Carolina, at the end of 2003, construction workers encountered a civil war-era military munition while digging up a cobblestone driveway. The workers did not identify the munition until the next day, when a Civil War re-enactor recognized it as a Parrott shell. The black-powder filled projectile was about eight inches long and three inches in diameter. The local bomb squad responded and properly disposed on the Parrott shell. Some items are difficult to identify, and not everyone realizes the danger that even old items can present.
Incident 8. One afternoon in 2001, an eight year old was raking leaves in his yard when heard his rake scrape metal. He picked up an unusual item and ran with it to his house. When his brother saw it, he became alarmed. The child dropped the object on the ground, a few feet from a concrete driveway. The family called the local police and the item was identified as a live military munition, a bazooka round. Military experts responded and carefully removed the round to a nearby military installations where it was detonated. This family was fortunate that the boys recognized the potential hazard in time. Later, the family learned that its house was built on land the military once used for military training area.
Incident 9. In 2000, an incident occurred that involved military munitions removed from an operational range. Although, like most operational ranges, this range had signs warning the public not to enter the area and of hazards potentially present, some youths entered and removed munitions. The munitions removed from the range were taken home and passed between the boys and their friends for several days. After changing hands many times, one of the munitions was dropped and exploded. As a result, a 16 year-old boy was killed and another was left in critical condition. Witnesses reported that, at one time, there were up to 20 children handling the UXO that eventually exploded. The boys were attempting to move the UXO, when it fell and hit a truck bumper and exploded. This UXO exploded even though it had been handled and moved around many homes. The explosion not only killed one boy, and injured another; it also damaged a house and two automobiles. After investigation, three local youths were arrested for trespassing into a restricted area and taking government property--the UXO.
Incident 10. In 2000, a nine year-old boy playing near a former artillery range found a munition (a UXO) and decided to keep it as a souvenir. More than a year and half later while the boy was playing with it in his garage, the munition exploded. As a result, the boy lost his left hand and forearm. Failure to recognize the explosive hazard posed by munitions irreversibly changed this boy's life.
Incident 11. In 1995, a family that was on vacation near an active military base found seven unidentified items and took them home. These items turned out to be UXO. Children were playing with these UXO when two of the UXO exploded. As a result, five children were admitted to the hospital, with two in serious condition and one with head injuries. An Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team responded from a local military base and destroyed the UXO. Unfortunately, the family did not recognize the items as munitions and the result was serious injury. This incident demonstrates one reason the Army tells its soldiers, "if you did not put it there, do not pick it up."
Incident 12. In 1989, a teenager was seriously injured on an operational range's impact area. The teenager and his older brother had wandered onto an artillery impact range when he apparently stepped on a munition that exploded. The teenager suffered permanent brain damage and lost 80 percent of the use of one eye. It is important to recognize the potential dangers associated with operational ranges, and to stay off of such ranges.
Incident 13. Recently, youngsters recognized that they had encountered a UXO and some discarded military equipment in a wooded area near their home. The children carefully retreated and ran home to tell their mother. Their mother reported the items to the police and an EOD team went to the location to investigate. It turns out the UXO was very dangerous and had to be destroyed. The children were very smart to follow the 3Rs (recognize, retreat, report) because had they disturbed the UXO, they would have been injured. The community should be grateful to the children for following the 3Rs because their action allowed EOD to remove the danger.
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