BS: Dropping the bomb

Subject: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Victor in Mapperton
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 01:49 PM

I saw a story in today's paper that a Malaysian fisherman has been using a deadly World War II bomb as an anchor for his boat.

Local police made the shocking discovery during a routine patrol in a fishing village in the southern Johor state.

The fisherman had been using the bomb for several months and thought it was safe on account of its age.

Police alerted the bomb squad who removed the 160mm device to be destroyed.

Officers discovered eight similar bombs in the village after following up on information obtained from the fisherman.

The bombs about the size of a small fire extinguisher were found behind a restaurant in the village.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: meself
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 02:03 PM

Isn't war wonderful?

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: frogprince
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 02:12 PM

Woah; probably dead after these years, but I wouldn't want to be the one to bet on the odds. Just before I was on Guam for 18 months (1965-66) two things turned up there: a cave of munitions the size of a walk-in closet, and a Japanese soldier who had still been hiding out in the jungle. A year or two after I got out of the Navy in '68, one more Japanese soldier turned up out there; so far as i ever heard, that one was the last.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 05:25 PM

It's interesting what young Japanese are doing now - recording Jeff Beck concerts wirelessly from his in-ear monitor system, quite wonderful!!

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 07:14 PM

No accounting for taste

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Teribus
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 06:09 AM

Some B&MD call outs I've heard of are hilarious and very scary:

- In Malta people making "fireworks" out of German bombs that they have "found". Having found them and lugged them to some back-street garage they use a hammer and chisel to get at the explosives inside. Highly dangerous and pointless as the explosives needed a detonator to set them off.

- In clearing the Gilbert and Solomon Islands in the Pacific a Chief CD 1 was sent to one island on his own and given the local "convicts" as his work force. They spent the first morning carrying box after box of ordnance out of a cache dug into a "hillside". The idea was that they were going to set it alight on the beach, what they failed to notice was that this stuff was weeping, leaving a perfect trail from the site of the fire back into the "cave". Using C4 as a firelighter the bonfire was lit and they all went off for lunch. About fifteen minutes later there was this almighty explosion as the "cave" blew up - Result ten days work done in just over one morning.

- A housing estate in Portsmouth that was using cortex from an old munitions dump as washing line. In appearance it looks exactly like plastic washing line but if it receives a sharp blow it "burns" at one mile per second.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: 3refs
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 08:11 AM

It is an astonishing story - if it is true. Sixty years after the end of the Second World War, two Japanese veterans have reportedly emerged from the Philippines jungle, declaring that they wish to go home but are afraid of a court martial.

It seems barely conceivable that the men could have spent six decades in hiding, possibly unaware of Japan's defeat. Yet in 1974 a former Imperial Army intelligence officer, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, was discovered in the rainforests of Lubang island in the Philippines, 30 years after being assigned there.

Mr Onoda, now 83, refused to believe that the war had ended, and it was only when his former commanding officer was flown over from Japan that he agreed to leave the jungle. In 1975 he emigrated to Brazil. Another Japanese ex-soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, was found on the North Pacific island of Guam in 1972. He came home, and died in 1977.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: number 6
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 08:35 AM

My son was doing some scuba diving off the coast of Pusan, S. Koreas a couple of years ago. He came across a widespread area where the ocean floor full of old unexploded navy shells left over from the Korean war. His Korean companions warned him that they are still lethal and definately don't touch.

Yes war is wonderful.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: kendall
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 09:04 AM

War. The ultimate failure.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 12:29 PM

In my opinion - truly - I think 'war' should consist of governing bodies taking out- preferably by negotiation - other governing bodies.

It is quite true that some staff around the administration might try physically to resist the ouster or seizure of the government people in which case they too would be seized. Perhaps 50 people, in all.

I just think that exhorting or requiring your country's people to go to war on your behalf is barbaric. The idea that people who don't know and may never see the people they are defending with their lives but are killling other people in their names is insane.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: number 6
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 01:34 PM

The stink of a war lingers on, long after it's over.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 01:43 PM

Am I right in thinking the USS Montgomerie still lies in the Thames estuary, chock-a-block with WW2 armaments and considered too dangerous to blow up or un-load?

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Mar 09 - 12:06 AM

Ebbie, I agree, wholeheartedly.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Mar 09 - 02:10 AM

Kat, thank you. The older I get the more vehemently I believe it. It seems to me that surely, surely, someday that will become the prevailing view.

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Mar 09 - 02:33 AM

Munitions from the WWII era, and somewhat before, are surprisingly durable. When I ordered a batch of '06 rifle ammo from the old "Civilian Marksmanship Program" ca. 1965, I received rounds manufactured in 1942 (they're marked on the cartridge head). They worked perfectly in '65 and on through about '70 (the last time I recall using any), although I have some hesitation about large wagers on how perfect the few remaining are now.

(65 years old? - Doesn't sound like too long, but lots of my youngster friends don't function all that well - reliably - at that age).

John

Subject: RE: BS: Dropping the bomb
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 09 - 06:51 PM

There are thousands of tons of explosives in the sea. Millions of gallons of chemical weapons and about 10 nuclear weapons.

The steel drums which contain much of the chemical weapons was designed to have remained safe until about 10 years ago.

The munitions in the sea may be as many as 100's of thousands of tons but I forget the actual figure from the documentary on the subject