Iowa Family Finds World War II-Era Bomb in Their Backyard
It's not every day that Iowans find war artifacts just hanging out around (and possibly under) their homes.
That's why the owner of a Dubuque house, Melissa Williams and her family were shocked when they found discovered a World War II-era mortar in the ground while they were in the process of installing a new fence around their backyard.
Per KCRG, the Dubuque Fire Department had 25 homes in the surrounding area evacuated while removing the bomb from its original location. The news site adds that "The State Fire Marshall then came in to pick up the bomb and bring it to a safe spot for remote detonation."
Fire Marshall and special agent in charge Ron Humphrey told KCCI "that this happens from time to time and they always treat it as if it's a real, active bomb."
This all took place around 3:30 PM on Sunday, June 12.
This is what Williams told KCCI about finding the explosive in her backyard:
I kinda thought something, but I thought I gotta look on Google before I go a little crazy here, but then once we figured out what it was. It was, this needs to go down and people need to be called. ... First off, why is it here? This is Dubuque, Iowa. It's not like anything happened here in WWII. We were all just kind of like this is a one-in-a-million thing and I hope there's no more.
Williams finished by saying she isn't concerned about any explosions happening in her yard anytime soon:
I'm good. This is what we needed, that was all. No more finding stuff in our yard unless it's like gold or something. That would be awesome.
No one was hurt in the process of removing the bomb from the yard.