World War II grenade makes collector jittery

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Antique shop owner Jay Bailey called the Oregon State Police bomb squad this weekend when a customer showed up with a Japanese hand grenade from World War II.

Bailey said he’s bought and sold military memorabilia since he was a youngster, including footlockers with loaded pistols, mortar shells and other dangers tucked away inside.

But the clay grenade sitting on a towel on his counter really made him nervous, he said.

"Those were last-ditch efforts, made in caves," he said. "It could be pretty volatile."

A local man brought the grenade along with a collection of other World War II items he had inherited from a recently deceased relative into Bailey’s shop. Bailey bought a stack of photos and a Japanese flag, torn by bullet holes and scribbled with Japanese characters. He recognized the grenade as potential trouble and called police.

State police got the request about 5 p.m., and had to call a supervisor to authorize overtime for a bomb technician, who was off duty, said Bonnie Whiteside, a dispatch supervisor.

Sr. Trooper Blain Allen, who is trained to dispose of explosives, came in to have a look at the grenade about 6 p.m. He advised Bailey to shut down the shop while he went to White City to get a bomb squad truck and to round up a second technician, needed to satisfy safety regulations.

Whiteside said Allen and the second technician, Sgt. Eric Fox of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, had things taken care of by 8 p.m.

"They have the grenade in the bomb truck and are going out to ‘render in safe’," she said. "In other words, they’re going to blow it up."

Whiteside said that in the 12 years she’s worked with Oregon State Police she’s seen an increase in the number of potentially dangerous World War II artifacts discovered. As the era’s veterans die, families discover shells, grenades and weapons that they don’t know what to do with.

Some of the items have been disarmed to make safe collectibles, she said. Others haven’t, but have set stable for decades, so should be OK for a few more hours until a bomb squad arrives to dispose of them safely, she said.