Multiple World War II armor-piercing projectiles, bullets and piles of shrapnel were found lodged in the sand at Topsail Island over the weekend, according to a Facebook post by a North Carolina volunteer firefighter.
Bradley Thomas Dixon, who owns property on the island, told the Charlotte Observer he made the discoveries with a metal detector, while searching for items that may have been exposed by Hurricane Florence.
The weaponry has been examined by an explosives expert and The Topsail Online Gazette reports the armor-piercing projectiles were not in danger of exploding. However, “everybody is urged to use caution if on Topsail Island ... lots of debris still being recovered and cleaned up,” said the Gazette on Facebook.
The list of finds included a 40 mm projectile, 90 mm anti-tank round, piles of shrapnel from detonated incendiary rounds and .50 caliber machine gun rounds, Dixon posted on Facebook.
More pictures @ Charlotte Observer
Shocking I tell you shocking. Just down the beach from Camp Lejuene.
ReplyDelete:).
DeleteInteresting. I know that .50Cal 20MM 40MM and 3inch(76MM) were all common use US Navy ordinance. But I have never read anything about 90MM ammo being used by the USN. It was Tank and AAA ammo used by the Army late in WW2. Not something you'd expect to find in a pile of UXO on Topsail beach. --Ray
ReplyDeleteThe Marines wouldn't have used it either?
DeleteI did a signing project on New River Air Station a few years ago...they told us to be careful when we dug post hole...they buried WWII hand grenades in that area
ReplyDeleteWonder why they didn't destroy them if no longer needed?
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