Summary
FOR decades the seven-inchlong shell had been a family memento, polished and given pride of place on the mantlepiece. The First World War relic also served as a toy and finally, for the past 20 years, as a front doorstop at the home of 68-yearold Thelma Bonnett. At any time during all those years, however, it could have exploded.
The German squat shell was live, packed with its original payload and with its firing mechanism primed, experts said yesterday. It was only when a neighbour saw the shell outside Mrs Bonnett's door that the danger became clear. The police were called and they summoned Royal Navy bomb disposal experts to the house in Paignton, Devon. Several neighbours were evacuated from their homes and the device was taken to a local quarry and exploded. It had been in the family for nearly a century after her grandfather Arthur Croxall brought it home in 1918. 'I had no idea it was dangerous,' Mrs Bonnett said yesterday. 'Grandfather picked it up on his travels with the Merchant Navy in 1918. My father used to polish it all the time and kept it on the mantelpiece.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Day the Bomb Squad Dropped in to Detonate My Doorstop
'It looked German because of the writing on the top. 'When I was young, five o...
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