Munition found in Milford plant
Mustard gas-filled military
device to be destroyed at Dover Air Force Base
By ANDRE L. TAYLOR
THE NEWS JOURNAL
10/22/2005
Another chemical warfare munition was found Thursday in a clamshell processing
plant in Milford.
The 75 millimeter munition was filled with the blistering agent mustard
gas, U.S. Army officials said. The munition was taken to Dover Air Force
Base, where it will be destroyed by the Army's Non-Stockpile Chemical Material
Project.
Two similar munitions have been destroyed at the air base. The explosive
Destruction Team at Dover is assisting.
Similar
WWI- and WWII-era munitions have been found in crushed seashell driveways
in southern Delaware and at Rehoboth Beach.
A beach-goer found two live artillery shells in July, prompting city officials
to close a 600-foot stretch of the beach.
Cpl. Jeff Oldham, spokesman for the Delaware State Police, said people
should not pick up artillery shells when they find them. He said they are
not safe and are very unstable.
More than 80 driveways have been found to contain pieces of munition.
As of July, the Army had spent more than $6 million extracting munition from
the seashell driveways of private homes.
To date, more than 312 vintage military explosives have been found and
destroyed since the problem was first discovered. Most are believed to have
originated from an offshore dumping project conducted after the wars by the
military.
After the problem was discovered, the clamshell processing plant stepped
up procedures to detect the munitions before transporting them to clamshell
driveways around Delmarva.
