GRENADES STOLEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1943, Page 4

GRENADES STOLEN

WIDESPREAD SEARCH MADE. SOME NARROW ESCAPES. Neafly all the live hand grenades stolen from a military depot and strewn about a public park in Sydney recently, have been recovered, said an official military spokesman. . “Search for the remainder will not cease until the last grenade has been accounted for,” he added. The spokesman declined to make any comment on how the grenades came to be stolen. At least 10 were handled by children, who picked them up in the park A boy took one of the grenades to school, where it was promptly impounded by his teacher. Four cases, each containin°’ 12 grenades, wefe stolen from the depot. Many were later found scattered over a wide area of Moore Park. In a warning to the public, the spokesman said: “The military author ities exercise the utmost care to ensure that when military exercises are held, a careful check is made of all expended and unexpended ammunition. There have been cases where mortar bombs and other missiles have failed to explode. Although exercises are held m areas not usually frequented by the public, precautions are always taken to see there is no possibility of anybody being harmed before the missiles can be dealt with. In the best laid schemes, however, it is possible for human error to creep in, and the public is warned, especially children, not to tamper with any kind of cartridge, grenade, bomb or shell that they may come across. They should warn the nearest police officer or military depot,” he added. A woman nearly fainted when she heard the radio announcement that live hand grenades were missing. Her young sons were taking three of them to pieces in the laundry! Noel Magnus (ID, who lives opposite Moore Park, found eleven grenades and took them home. He and his brothers were tinkering with them (not knowing what they were at that stage), when their mother heard the announcement. A friend came in and took the grenades to the police barracks in her apron. Moore Parks small boys are proud of the part they played in finding many of the grenades. But their mothers believe only miracles saved them from shocking accidents. The children said all their friends had found some and took them to the police. One boy hid his for a day or so, because he didn’t want to give it up.