Person Finds An Active WWII BOMB On The Beach In Florida, Bomb Squad Detonates It (Video)

A beach comber in Pass-a-Grille Beach, Florida was walking the beach sands in the wee hours of the morning when something caught their eye. Usually at 8:40am the only thing you’re likely to see when walking the Gulf Coast beaches of Florida is some washed up jellyfish, maybe some cool looking shells, but mostly a lot of seaweed and used condoms (depending on the time of year). One thing you would most certainly NOT expect to find is 4-foot bomb from WWII, specifically a M122 World War II-era flare. And that’s what one Florida beachgoer found, alerting the bomb squad who basically shut down the city (in a hilarious display of overreaction) before disarming the WWII bomb.

Footage of the bomb squad detonating the flare was captured as well as photos of the M122. Here’s the footage of it blowing up on the sand, which all things considered isn’t that different form those EXTREME SAND CASTLE competitions where they blow up the loser’s sand castles:

Thanks to MacDill AFB's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team – great job partnering with St. Petersburg's first responders…

Posted by MacDill Air Force Base on Sunday, July 19, 2015

Ever since I first saw the movie Joe Dirt I’ve been skeptical of the bombs I’ve came across on beaches. I don’t call them in to the authorities, I don’t meddle with them, I just keep on walking like I never saw anything. This is because in the movie Joe Dirt he think he’s found an atom bomb, but it of course turns out to be an old septic tank and he gets covered in putrefying feces, which is like my 5th worst nightmare.

That said, if I were to come across that hunk of metal above I’d likely assume it was some boat part that washed up on the shore. The last thing that would ever cross my mind (unless there were identifying marks) is that it might be a WWII bomb. Frankly, it’s a miracle that such a thought would cross anyone’s mind when the piece of metal was completely encrusted in barnacles and rust. Keep in mind that this washed up on the shores of the Gulf Coast, a body of land where during WWII someone seeking to attack would have had to sail between Cuba and Florida undetected then come up the coast, which really wasn’t worth the hassle at all. So there’s really no way of telling what brought this M122 bomb ashore.

[Tampa Bay Times]