Second World War bomb in Nova Scotia pond removed

By Lieutenant Nicole Morrison

When you hear that a 500 pound, Second World War-era bomb was found in a pond in Chebogue Point, a small community in Yarmouth County, N.S., you would probably imagine an excited frenzy surrounding the discovery.

That may well have been the case decades ago when the bomb was initially discovered; however, as the years went on, unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO) became just another feature of local yore, with residents even playing hockey on the pond's frozen surface in the winter time.

While that may sound surprising to some, the truth is that finding UXOs in the area is more common than one would expect due to the former military training ground and weapons range that existed in the area in the 1940s.

Fortunately, there is a program designed specifically to respond to the discovery of UXOs and to safely dispose of them. The program is simple: if a member of the public finds UXO, they should call the local police and they will refer the matter to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for disposal.

In this case, members of the community contacted their local RCMP who informed the CAF about the UXO in question in November 2020. Over the next few months the steps were completed in order to plan for the item's disposal - an environmental assessment; negotiation of land use agreements with the property owner; and consultation with provincial and municipal authorities, the RCMP and other government departments and agencies.

Once these steps were completed, it was decided that the Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (MEOD) team from the Royal Canadian Navy's Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) would be deployed in April to conduct the disposal.

The MEOD team, consisting of Navy divers who are experts in detecting and destroying UXO in a variety of settings, arrived in the area on April 26 and the disposal process took five days.

The first day was dedicated to setting up the work site, including establishing secure entry points to ensure everyone's safety and pumping the water from the pond. The team then spent the following day doing a thorough search of the pond - measuring approximately 50 metres long and 15 metres wide - for other possible UXOs.

After determining there were no other UXOs in the area, the team spent a day preparing the equipment and finalizing the plan for the removal of the UXO, followed by the detonation the following day. Finally, the team spent their last day cleaning up the worksite to make sure it left as minimal an impact as possible.

Typically, disposing of a UXO consists of safely removing the item and transporting it to a secure environment before conducting a controlled detonation. Afterwards, any scrap metal is gathered and sent for disposal. The UXO in question, a Second World War-era general purpose bomb, was taken to a local quarry for detonation.

According to Lieutenant (Navy) Andrew MacLeod, the MEOD team lead, the disposal 'went very well. The process was efficient and safe. The team was able to completely destroy the UXO and there was not very much left to haul away.'

It's all part of a day's work for the MEOD team members. Thanks to them, decades after the initial discovery, the bomb has been safely removed from the pond and disposed of. Now the locals can play hockey in safety and leave the explosive interactions to the players on the ice!

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