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Mark 2 "Pineapple" hand grenades used by the Army in World War II
You never know what you’re going to stumble upon when you browse the items up for grabs at an estate sale. One man in Texas came across a very unexpected surprise, as the bomb squad in Austin had to be dispatched after he discovered he’d purchased some live grenades from World War II.
More than 16 million Americans fought in World War II, and many troops who were deployed overseas returned to the United States with souvenirs they collected during the conflict.
Soldiers were required to return their government-issued munitions after their tour was up (although more than a few managed to slip through the bureaucratic cracks), but they were permitted to head back home with guns, knives, helmets, and other so-called “war trophies” they pilfered from enemy troops.
That includes some potentially dangerous items that ended up back on American soil, which is the case with the collection of live explosives that was recently discovered at an estate sale in the Lone Star State.
The Austin Police Department bomb squad was called into action after a man bought a box of live grenades at an estate sale
There are approximately 30,000 living veterans of World War II in the United States, although that number will severely winnow over the course of the next decade or so when you consider the youngest members of that group are just a few years away from their 100th birthday.
It’s unclear if one of those veterans had their belongings sold at an estate sale that was recently held in Austin, Texas, but there was a pretty clear link to WWII based on what a guy discovered in a box he scooped up there.
According to CBS News, the Austin Police Department received a call from the unidentified man in question on Tuesday, October 13th, after he discovered a number of grenades inside the box in question.
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The collection appeared to include four Type 97 hand grenades that were used by the Japanese army during WWII as well as multiple tins containing other types (including an inert M21 practice grenade).
The department’s bomb squad determined some of the grenades were still live more than 80 years after they were produced, and they were safely disposed of after being “seized and removed.”