A bomb scare that forced the evacuation of the Royal Canadian Legion in Amherstburg Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a deactivated smoke bomb from the Second World War.
The harmless shell had been left in a back room of the Legion Branch 157 — unbeknownst to anyone working there.
“I was cleaning out the electrical room when I came across it,” said Legion employee John Copland.
After finding the rusty torpedo-looking device at 1 p.m., he immediately alerted Legion president Dennis Purdie.
“I didn’t know anything about it. It looked like a shell,” Purdie said.
Purdie asked the bartender to notify police who advised them to evacuate the building. Police soon arrived to investigate the threat.
“The police officer didn’t know anything about it, he’s not a bomb expert. We were out on the patio and then there were cop cars everywhere. There had to be seven cop cars,” Purdie said.
Police blocked off Dalhousie Street at about 1:30 p.m., and contacted the military for assistance. But before the bomb squad was needed, an unidentified man stepped forward to say it belonged to him.
Purdie said that made more sense.
“A lot of people bring military stuff like bullets for display,” Purdie said pointing to medals, berets and ammunition displayed on the wall. “Whoever brought it, he left it in the back room.”
Police seized the shell after determining it was no danger to the public. They removed the street blockade after a couple of hours.
According to police, the device was a deactivated aircraft modular practice bomb from the Second World War. The artillery shell produced a smoke trail that would be used to determine the accuracy of a bomb drop.
After the day of commotion, a relieved Copland was cracking jokes about the bomb scare.
“I was thinking, whoever left it is probably ticked off because of the raised price of beer.”
dwanniarachige@windsorstar.com
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