Resident Cheri Thompson discovered a live Type 91 Japanese frag hand grenade and an artillery fuze that her father had brought home from World War II. The devices were amongst her family's memorabilia which contained items going back generations.
SEELEY LAKE - Resident Cheri Thompson found an explosive secret while she was digging through her family's relics. Amongst the familial treasures were a live Type 91 Japanese fragmentation grenade and an artillery fuze which came from her father's World War II memorabilia. She immediately turned over the items to Robert Parcell, Missoula County Sheriff's Office Sergeant and retired Marine Colonel, who brought it to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in Missoula.
Thompson's father Ivan Odom joined the Air Force in February 1943 and was ordered to return home in December 1945. Thompson said she was not entirely surprised by the find.
"Was I shocked? No," she said. "We're a bit of a keeper of history type family. We
have a lot of interesting things. ... I just wrapped it up, put it back in the box. [My husband] said, maybe we need to get rid of it. I would have put it right back where it was and moved on ... probably."
Years ago Thompson had sent in several boxes of rifle shells to authorities that had belonged to her grandfather. While they were not necessarily dangerous on their own, she said she would not have put them in a gun.
The weapons were found on Monday, Jan. 18. Thompson turned them into Parcell at around 1 p.m. and he brought it to EOD a few hours later. When the EOD receives explosive devices, they take it to a secure room where they detonate it by using other explosives. According to Parcell, there was a chance for the fuze to detonate but the likelihood was much lower than the grenade.
According to Wikipedia, the grenade was introduced in 1931 and could be thrown by hand, fired from a launcher or discharged by a projector. The explosive had a six to eight second delay before it would detonate. An artillery fuze initiates the explosive function of a weapon causing it to detonate when activated.
According to Parcell, Missoula County residents find old explosives about three or four times a year so he is familiar with transporting explosive devices like this. He was able to store it in the back of his vehicle with very little personal risk towards him if it had gone off. Other items residents have discovered include dynamite as well as 20 and 30 millimeter ordnance shells.
From what the EOD had told him, Parcell said a piece of string is typically attached to the grenade pin which would occasionally result in the device accidentally going off when the string would snag. This fault in the device's design would result in multiple self-inflicted casualties for Japanese soldiers.
Thompson recommends that residents should immediately call 9-1-1 if they accidentally discover explosive devices so that they can be properly disposed.
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