Bomb!

[Angel]

I heard this evening that an unexploded bomb/device was found at or near the Assembly rooms on Monday... is this true or just another rumour...

Angel...

[Dadie]

True!
Pity it didnt wipe out the singing kettle ........before the preformances of course!

[Aaldtimer]

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/highlands-islands/273225-large-quantity-of-world-war-ii-grenades-dug-up-by-volunteers-in-the-highlands/

[sandyr1]

Kinda funny really.....My father was at the sea for a while during the War, and in the 'Home Guard', and his only Weapon was a Brush....or Broom. They marched.. pretending it was a rifle!
There wern't too many Munitions around....Mind you that was in Lybster/ perhaps they didn't care about 'That Place'!

[golach]

Kinda funny really.....My father was at the sea for a while during the War, and in the 'Home Guard', and his only Weapon was a Brush....or Broom. They marched.. pretending it was a rifle!
There wern't too many Munitions around....Mind you that was in Lybster/ perhaps they didn't care about 'That Place'!
Surprised Sandy, my Father was also in the Home Guard he was a Farm Labourer, but I mind his Sten Gun.

[sandyr1]

He said other places had 'guns' but in Lybster there were only 1 or 2!
BTW where was he??

[mi16]

True!
Pity it didnt wipe out the singing kettle ........before the preformances of course!

What a miserable git you are.
My daughter absolutely loved the show on Sat

[golach]

He said other places had 'guns' but in Lybster there were only 1 or 2!
BTW where was he??
He was based with the Thurso Home Guard

[gleeber]

Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler if you think you have us on the run.
http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/item/photograph_zoom.jsp?item_id=141185&zoom=2
Thats the Thurso Home Gaurd in 1941. Seems to be taken in front of the Miller Academy. Was John Sinclair their leader?

[oldmarine]

I wonder how much loose ordnance there is left over from WW2 around the area. It should be left alone as it could be dangerous.

[George Brims]

I wonder how much loose ordnance there is left over from WW2 around the area. It should be left alone as it could be dangerous.
I can give you a few examples! I bet a lot of people have similar stories.
On the farm where I grew up, the same one where the present farmer found a plane crash site a couple of years ago, a 500 pound bomb turned up when I was just a few months old. The bomb disposal people blew it up in situ as it wasn't close to buildings. They forgot to notify the folk two farms over, about a mile distant, who had all their windows blown out.

Our neighbour in Watten used to dig drainage ditches and lay drain pipe for farmers. He uncovered a mortar bomb one day. That one turned out to be a dummy (the Home Guard used to practice there).

A man in Watten re-opened an abandoned quarry, and found a box of anti-tank weapons, like big lollipops with the head being a sealed glass thing with phosphorus inside. Apparently these were made sticky so a brave soul could attach them to a tank.

My dad was visiting the Grey Cairns of Camster one day and spotted a grenade in the grass. It was one of the bakelite-cased ones used for practice. Still lethal though at close proximity. He decided (foolish man) to detonate it himself, having used them in Home Guard training. By the cairns is a circular dry stone sheep shelter, so he pulled the pin and threw it in there, ducking down below the wall. He was expecting it to go off after three or five seconds. It went off in the air before it even hit the ground. Luckily he did have his head low enough (or I would never have been born!). Lesson learned - old stuff is unstable.

[George Brims]

Surprised Sandy, my Father was also in the Home Guard he was a Farm Labourer, but I mind his Sten Gun.
My dad told me they got Stens later in the war, when the danger of invasion was already past, though they were still on the alert for Commando type raids. The Stens were recycled from combat and were not all in great condition. While waiting his turn at the range, he had cocked his (too soon as it turned out) and when someone bumped against him, it went off, without his finger anywhere near the trigger. It emptied the whole magazine into the floor, inches from his foot. When it stopped he was the only person in the room! One of the other blokes broke his arm or wrist going out a window.

[oldmarine]

Very interesting posts George. I remember during WW2 about how all of England and the highlands as well had all that Nazi bombing. I can understand all the armanent lying around. By now all that stuff would be very unstable and best for amateurs to leave it all alone.

[Dadie]

Just noticed my smilie is missing from my 1st post....
I put it in, and, it didnt appear on the post after I hit the send button....
But on a more serious note, there must be more stashes of mutitions lying around that were buried/hidden in the war times as well as other bits and bobs forgotten about or in attics.
I remember when a pals Dad found explosives in a derlict house ... no detonators though!