Unexploded ordnances from past wars linger in SWFL

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CAPE CORAL, Fla.Imagine sorting through the trash and finding an 81 mm mortar from World War II.

That’s what happened at a local recycling plant last week, prompting the center to temporarily shut down so the bomb squad could make sure the explosive was inactive.

“It carried 1 pound of TNT … and that would just blow the whole piece apart,” said George Colom Jr., a former sergeant in the U.S. Marines who now works at the Southwest Florida Military Museum.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office donated the device to the museum at 4820 Leonard St.

Deputies learned the military authorized Pfc. Manuel Thomas to bring it back to the United States in 1945.

“There’s a problem with that now,” Colom said. “They’re finding unexploded ordnances all over the world.”

A bomb squad recently detonated what appeared to be an old military weapon found on a beach in Pinellas County.

“If you find an unexploded device, the first thing you do is don’t pick it up,” Colom said. “Leave it there. Spot it. Call the police and get the bomb squad to go over and check it out.”

Exploding devices from past wars are especially concerning in Southwest Florida, the sheriff’s office said, because of the area’s large population of veterans.

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