Tuesday, May 27, 2008

 

We Had Some Excitement Around The Dudley Domicile Today ...





Dudley called the local fire department and told them he had a relic from WWII, a Japanese model 97 hand grenade that appeared to be live. I spoke to a lieutenant who said he would talk to his superiors and call me back. In a few minutes he called and said the Fire Chief will be right out. The fire chief and assistant showed up a short time later and I explained how I had come to acquire this hand grenade. The chief came in and I showed him the grenade sitting up on the top shelf of Dudleys wife's china cabinet. He took a close look at it and said it was the real deal all right. He then said he would take it outside and call the ATF to come pick it up and dispose of it. He took it outside and placed it in the street across from Dudleys house in front of the house that is vacant and for sale. The fire chief got out his cell phone and took a few pictures of the grenade sitting on the ground. I told him he could show the photos to the guys back at the fire station and tell them this is why he gets paid the big bucks. He got a laugh out of that. About twenty minutes later the ATF agent showed up. He went and looked over the grenade and then picked it up and took it to the rear of his SUV. I could not see what he did exactly but it sounded like he hit it several time with a hammer. The fire chief said he did something to the fuse on the grenade. They got here just in time as it started pouring down rain soon after they left. Now we can sleep better at night without worrying about a hand grenade blowing up and waking us. I noticed the ATF agent had snow white hair, little wonder given that he defuses and disarms bombs for a living.

Comments:
Oh my! Glad you got that thing defused...Whew!
 
Marian I think it was the right thing to do. I'm glad to get it out of here, one less thing to worry about.

JDP
 
I hope the guy didn't "hit" the fuse. The type 97 came with a porcelin percussion fuse. You armed the grenade by hitting the cap on something hard. Hence the old war movies showing Japanese soldiers rapping the grenade on their helmets.

Next we will read how Dudley was mowed down by the ATF when they raided the home of a survivalist/terrorist.
 
From wiki:The Type 97 (or Model 97) fragmentation hand grenade was the standard Imperial Japanese Army hand grenade, during World War II. It was developed from the Type 91 which was also a fragmentation hand grenade, but predominately used as the munition for the Type 10, and Type 89 grenade launchers. It had the same principles as most of the fragmentation grenades of the period, in that; when it exploded, it dispersed sharp pieces of shrapnel. To employ the Type 97, one would remove the safety pin by pulling the cord to which it was attached, remove the protective cap which covered the striker, and then strike the latter against a hard surface, such as a rock or helmet, before throwing at the target. In practice the grenade was found to be unreliable and even dangerous to use.
 
Terrorists don't call the local FD and turn in hand grenades do they?
I read about how unreliable the model 97 grenade was, considering that and the fact it was 71 years old, I think I made the right decision in getting rid of it.

JDP
 
Ah, but it was a clever ploy to throw BATF off the scent of your real stash of WMD, hidden in the car port!
 
Hermit you are right, and best of all, I don't even have a car port.

JDP
 
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