A McComb man who was weeding his yard on Monday found something more harmful than crabgrass — a World War II-era hand grenade.
Dewitt Tucker, of 610 Avenue D, was working in tall grass around his front porch and yanked up a handful of it when the grenade “fell out of the grass,” he said.
“When it fell out of the grass, I knew what it was,” Tucker said. “I told my wife, ‘That’s a grenade.’ ”
When McComb Deputy Police Chief Scott McKenzie and Sgt. Lyle Tadlock arrived on scene, they recognized the explosive as “an old pineapple grenade,” McKenzie said.
He said that type of grenade is “extremely old.”
McKenzie and Tadlock, an Army reservist, also noticed a hole in the bottom of the grenade, signaling that it was designed for simulation purposes and not combat.
Despite its age and role as a simulation grenade, the explosive still posed a threat, McKenzie said. Simulation grenades are hollowed through the center and when detonated, most of the force of the explosion goes out the bottom. However, it can still expel some shrapnel, he said.
Police evacuated the family as a precaution and contacted the bomb squad from the Clinton Police Department, which was on scene about an hour and 45 minutes later, McKenzie said.
The bomb squad retrieved the device, placed it in a ballistics container and took it back to Clinton for disposal, McKenzie said.
Since it was being disposed of, officials are unlikely to trace the origin of the grenade or how it ended up in an east McComb yard.
The “pineapple” grenade’s official title is the MK 2 grenade, and it was used in World War II and Vietnam.
East McComb used to be home to many former military personnel, McKenzie said.
“Years ago they didn’t keep track of stuff as well as they do today,” he said, referring to veterans bringing home battleground souvenirs.
McKenzie said residents who find strange devices should immediately call police.
“In my 17 to 18 years, that is the first grenade call that we have responded to,” McKenzie said.
