Second War World bomb removed and destroyed

An unexploded bomb dating back to the Second World War is no more in Chebogue, Yarmouth County.

After days of a slow, careful and coordinated removal process, the 500-pound bomb was transported to a local quarry for disposal on Thursday, April 29.

The work, which got underway on Monday, April 26, was carried out by members of the Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (MEOD) Team from Fleet Diving

Unit (Atlantic).

Extensive planning for the removal had gotten underway following an assessment last fall of the unexploded ordnance (UXO), after the RCMP had reached out to the Canadian Armed Forces about its presence in November 2020.

It was determined at that time there was little risk to the public, but it was felt it was still necessary to remove the old bomb. Coodination took place between the Canadian Armed Forces, the Municipality of Yarrmouth, the RCMP and other government departments.

The UXO was in a pond in the vicinity of Aquatic Drive in Chebogue, where a local yacht club is located.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure how the ordnance came to be in the pond,” said

Lt. Nicole Morrison, public affairs officer with the Maritime Forces Atlantic Headquarters. “We do know that the area used to be a bombing range.”

The pond was drained and surveyed to ensure there was no presence of other ordnances. No others were found.

“We didn’t find anything else that was too exciting, other than some very large leeches,” Morrison said. “Of course there’s still a chance of there being other ordnances in the general area. However, we did determine that there was only one in the pond and that there was no threat to the public.”

Morrison said it’s not uncommon to find ordnances in parts of the province.

This one, apparently, wasn’t even a secret to all, according to the Canadian Armed Forces.

“The presence of this particular ordnance is something that the locals have known about for many years,” said Morrison. “It was only back in November of last year that the RCMP called us to begin the process of assessing and removing it.”

Last Thursday the Second World War-era bomb was lifted onto a truck using an excavator and had an RCMP escort to the quarry where it was detonated and destroyed.

“The disposal went very well. The process was efficient and safe,” said Lt(N) Frank MacLeod, team lead of the removal process. “The team was able to completely destroy the UXO and there was not very much left to haul away.”