[CPEO-MEF] Artillery Shell Found at Former Army Camp

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Texas
TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH
Artillery Shell Found at Former Army Camp
By Kenneth Dean
November 11, 2003

OWENTOWN - A man tilling a garden in his back yard stopped when the
blades of the machine hit something making a metallic-sounding clunk.
What he found unnerved him - a highly explosive piece of World War II
ordnance used for training at the former Camp Fannin.

Jerry Strickland, a three-year resident of Summerwood Estates off Texas
Highway 155 north, said he was tilling earth for a garden when he heard
the blades hit something hard.

"I stopped immediately and began digging with my hands. What I found was
this," he said, pointing to the 60-plus-year-old ordnance. "I am not
doing any more digging or tilling until I know my property is clean of
explosives,"

The explosive device, about five inches long by five inches in diameter,
bore markings identifying it as a 60-millimeter Winchester M4 round.

Camp Fannin was established in 1943 and operated until 1945 as a World
War II Infantry Replacement Training Center and a prisoner of war camp.

The former military camp consisted of 14,093 acres in the Winona area
and was turned over to private landowners after the camp was deemed an
excess in 1946 after the war, which left unexploded ordnance across the
former camp.

Charles Wilson, Smith County Precinct 4 constable, said the device
Strickland found had not been detonated.

Wilson, who has served as the Precinct 4 constable for 20 years, said he
has seen all types of ordnance over the years and with new construction
and expansions of the residential areas, The University of Texas Health
Center at Tyler and businesses in the area, he stays busy gathering
ordnance from callers.

To view this article, copy and paste the following URL into your
browser:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=341384&newsid=10498584&PAG=461&rfi=9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CPEO: A DECADE OF SUCCESS.  Your generous support will ensure that our 
important work on military and environmental issues will continue.  
Please consider one of our donation options.  Thank you.
http://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2086-0|721-0