So my wife brought me home a grenade today...

* Cliff notes below...


A month or so ago my wifes grandmother passed. Today she and my mother in-law went to her home to get things in order and to take a few keepsake's home. Her grandmother outlived her grandfather by about 2 decades and her/their home was a throwback to the 50's including a lot of items collected along the way. Among the items my wife took home were a few things she remembered playing with at 'grandmas' house as a child, such things as a coaster set, a harmonica, and other little knick knacks of sentimental value. Included in these things were a few things of her grandfathers as well, such as a 1941 WWII field manual, a small coin collection, a vintage brass pump fire extinguisher, a 1969 'a look' Apollo 11 magazine, and a John Deer vintage lunch box. All in all she took home about 40 or so items.

As we were going over each item, hearing her reminisce over them, I took a closer look at the John Deer lunch box. I noticed it was quite heavy and something was probably in it. I opened it up to find a bundled rag and something heavy inside. I unfolded it only to find what appeared to be a hand grenade. Even though I am former military, I had never seen such a grenade and it was in such pristine condition I initially assumed it was a token keepsake or a paperweight of some kind, but I was not certain so I began to google it trying to find out what exactly I had here.

I was quickly able to find the type/design and it turned out to be a type 97 WWII Japanese grenade (circa 1930's - 1940's), but was it real? Live? I still had no idea but knew I needed to find out quickly! Her grandfather was in WWII and did bring home a few things including a military issue firearm, but could this possibly be real? And more importantly, am I looking at a live 70+ year old explosive here?

I have a friend who is military and works for the DoD so I gave him a call. Shortly there after he came over and in a few seconds was able to tell it was 'probably' real, and potentially live. The thing is he had never saw one in person (although he knew what it was), and it was in such pristine condition it looked like it was made yesterday, not hand painted 70 years ago.

I quickly found out my only real course of action to properly get rid of this (if in fact it was live) was to call the local police, and I did. Within minutes there was several patrol cars here including the local sheriff. I had the thing still in the John Deer Lunch box, but in the back of my truck outside my home by that time and the police would not touch it. They had called in the state police and were awaiting them to come handle this. Mind you, at this point no one (including me even knew if it were real and/or live).

After about 45 minutes a couple State police SUV's came and quickly went to work opening the John Deer lunch box and inspecting the contents inside. One of the SUV's had some sort of instruments in the back and within seconds we had our answer, it was indeed a real & LIVE hand grenade! I was so relieved to have them come and take it away as I was very nervous having it after getting the notion it could be real/live.

All the police and state troopers were very professional, respectful, and quite frankly pleasurable to have handle this. I really did not know what to expect once I knew I had to call them in, but I am very thankful they came so quickly and were able to rid me of that burden! I mean, sure... They did their job with the questioning of circumstance and such but they were as intrigued and interested with it as I was, and the State Troopers were also quite accommodating with regards to communication. All in all, quite an eventful day.

So yes, my wife did indeed bring me home a live WWII Japanese grenade today, and thankfully (after handling a 70+ year old grenade) I/we are still here safe and sound, grenade free thanks to the local PD and State Troopers.


*Cliff notes:

Wife unwittingly brings home live grenade, call local PD and they took it away for me.

Oh, and here is a photo...

a reply to: HomeBrew

Well, I have to say...this is an awesome post!

One that I would never have expected to read here and that should say a lot!

You have a good woman...take her out for a nice dinner.

Also, thank your lucky stars that the LEO's were so considerate.

All in all, it sounds like you had a pretty good day.

S&F

Yeah, I do not make too many posts here but thought this would be worthy. I do feel lucky they were all so considerate and accommodating to the situation as I think they could have handled it much more harshly if they wanted to. Also, just got back from taking my wife out for dinner

Quite an eventful day, yes.

a reply to: HomeBrew

Absolutely cool and lucky charms to be alive. If I am correct the type 97 is the pull pin and smash on hard surface to initiate fuze train, then throw. That certainly looks like that type of fuze on the top.

The "lucky charms" thing is that over time explosives can "ginger" or (simply put) become sensitive to the slightest shock.

It might be interesting to get the thing back as a collectable once it is deactivated, demilitarized, DEWAT.

In such pristine shape a piece like that would be worth a pretty penny. I can assure you it will wind up on one of their desks, otherwise.

ETA: In much worse condition than yours…

Link

a reply to: HomeBrew

If you're interested in keeping it, you should coordinate through you're local police with the nearest Marine Corps Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit.

They would love to inert it, and you would get something cool to put on your shelf.

I worked with munitions for almost my entire career; and I gotta say... wow. First, looking at the pic it seems clear that it was stored quite well... which could very well be why you are still alive. Second, you did the absolute best thing you could have done in that situation... called the experts, and got the hell away from it.

The kids I grew up with, their father had quite the collection of WWII keepsakes, shall we say... I would NOT want to be the one tasked with cleaning out HIS basement one day when he passes... eeesh!

Thanks for the comments, I sure do consider myself lucky!

I will check with the sheriff that I was mainly talking to and see if he can do anything in the way of letting me keep the deactivated shell.

Thanks!

a reply to: madmac5150

their father had quite the collection of WWII keepsakes, shall we say... I would NOT want to be the one tasked with cleaning out HIS basement one day when he passes... eeesh!

I would. What a treasure trove! Some of these old guys brought home stuff that no longer exists.

Back in the gun show days some of my best finds were at flea markets and especially garage sales. People had no idea what original, "still in the cosmo" gun parts were worth.

Oh, and value wise, it does make me a bit sick to see something that could potentially be a bit valuable (both monetarily and sentimentally) taken away, but I am ok with it, just to get it away from my family. I will look in to potentially getting it back as mentioned above, but I am not keeping my fingers crossed...

Thanks.

a reply to: HomeBrew

Unfortunately, he will probably tell you they are going to destroy it due to age and dangerous decay of the explosive elements.

Too bad. There might be an EOD option to render it inert in such a case, who knows? Even a fee or "tax" if they consider it a destructive device (because of its "fragmentation" - ability).

Depends upon the state you live in, federal, local ordnances and all. Plus number of smiles.

"After all officer, its a family heirloom won in battle by a distinguished veteran. You wouldn't deny my children a piece of family history, would yuuuu?"

a reply to: intrptr

Well, all I can do is try.

a reply to: HomeBrew

Back about 30 years ago when I was a young Fireman stationed by myself in one of my county's remote stations. A man knocked at the door holding a live mortor round.

I calmly asked him to take it to the flag pole in the front of the station set it down and come back to the door.
As soon as he started walking toward the pole I closed the door and stood against the inside concrete wall.

I didnt look out of the window until I heard him knock then seeing the mortor laying at the flag pole I told him to wait in his car and not go near the mortor. (I think it then started sinking in he might be in a situation).

I called my Lieutenant. He called DOD. They came over and confirmed it was a live mortor. I asked if I couldhave it as a souvenier after disarming........They laughed at me and took it away

I've got plenty more weird and unusual FD/EMS stories from the past 32+ years, but.......that's another story

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: madmac5150

their father had quite the collection of WWII keepsakes, shall we say... I would NOT want to be the one tasked with cleaning out HIS basement one day when he passes... eeesh!

I would. What a treasure trove! Some of these old guys brought home stuff that no longer exists.

Back in the gun show days some of my best finds were at flea markets and especially garage sales. People had no idea what original, "still in the cosmo" gun parts were worth.

The firearms aren't the issue... the man did his own smithing and knew his stuff... and I have handled and fired nearly all of them. Trust me, he has an AMAZING collection of memorabilia... however... he had a few old wooden crates tucked way in the back that we were told to NEVER touch under penalty of banishment to Siberia... that's what concerns me a bit, especially considering that the basement has probably flooded at least a dozen times and the crates were never moved...

a reply to: HomeBrew

Thanks for bringing it. That pic is the best I've ever seen of one of those. Even the twine "pull string" is intact. And the veneer on the body.

I'd give it a 95 %.

originally posted by: HomeBrew
Yeah, I do not make too many posts here but thought this would be worthy. I do feel lucky they were all so considerate and accommodating to the situation as I think they could have handled it much more harshly if they wanted to. Also, just got back from taking my wife out for dinner

Quite an eventful day, yes.

You are a good man....a good man indeed.

a reply to: madmac5150

however… he had a few old wooden crates tucked way in the back that we were told to NEVER touch under penalty of banishment to Siberia… that's what concerns me a bit, especially considering that the basement has probably flooded at least a dozen times and the crates were never moved…

Yes, alarm bells. Old explosives decay and may ooze out their containers, settling out and "crystalizing" on the boxes or ground even. If you can get a look at these crates (without touching them) and see some "sparkly" and or "apparent" stains on or around them…

then you should man up like this guy and make a call.

Old unstable dynamite

That is so neat! Thanks for sharing.

My grandpa was a vet of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. I had always hoped for some interesting something to be left to me when he passed...... Alas, my grandmother never cared for this set of grandchildren and did whatever she wanted with his belongings. (He got her back though, kept her from getting survivor benefits, and she didn't know till after he passed [I think they hated each other]).

a reply to: chelsdh

That was funny. A woman should never arbitrarily mess with a mans things.

a reply to: intrptr

It is funny, and sad too. She was always so mean to him, putting him down. My whole life they always had separate rooms. Now, I have been informed that he was an alcoholic, and put her through hell a bit (I'm sure his many tours of war didn't help either), but she stayed with him...... so she should have found peace with him changing (which he eventually did).

Regardless, he was the only one that cared to show any affection to my siblings and I. I'm thankful we were older when he passed, that way we got to enjoy him. He was quite scary when I was a kid- 6.5 and he would talk like Donald Duck, which was supposed to entertain, but only frightened us!

I know he had some cool things from his days in the Navy/Army.... It probably went to the golden grandchild or Goodwill!

a reply to: chelsdh

Oh, sorry. Love is hard. To love is easy, to commit to love after people are spent and or broken is hard. Sounds like you loved him too.

He probably appreciated that.