Bomb Squad removes WWII-era grenade from Albion house

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 November 2014 at 6:04 pm

Photos by Tom Rivers – Members of the Monroe County Bomb Squad and Albion police officer David Mogle head into a house on West Park Street to remove a live grenade.

ALBION – The Monroe County Bomb Squad was in Albion late this afternoon to remove a World War II-era grenade from an Albion home on West Park Street.

The grenade was live and will be detonated by the Bomb Squad, said Roland Nenni, Albion police chief.

The grenade was discovered early this afternoon at 231 West Park St. The house has been owned by Elizabeth Donovan. The house has been in her family for many generations, going back before World War II, a family member said.

Donovan recently moved to Florida and the house is in process of being sold. There was an estate sale there over the weekend with more than 50 people in the house.

Linda and Joe Roberts were cleaning out the house today. Mr. Roberts discovered the grenade in the basement between a floor joist and the foundation. He noticed the pin was still in the grenade.

The Monroe County Bomb Squad was in Albion at about 5 p.m. to remove a grenade.

He called the Albion police, which took pictures of the grenade and sent them to the Monroe County Bomb Squad. They arrived at about 5 p.m. and removed the grenade. They put it into a container and will detonate it off site.

The Bomb Squad confirmed it was a pineapple grenade from World War II that had not been disarmed.

One of Donovan’s family members speculated Donovan’s brother and her brother-in-law, who both served in the war, may have brought back a grenade as a souvenir.

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts do many house clean-outs. They recently found a solid cannon ball from the War of 1812 inside a house.