Cleaning out a grandparent’s garage usually turns up some old photos or a dusty uniform, but one Thousand Oaks family hit a much more "explosive" jackpot this past weekend. While sorting through the belongings of their late grandfather, a World War II veteran, family members stumbled upon a literal cache of military-grade grenades.
We aren't talking about plastic replicas. The stash included authentic Japanese, British, and American grenades, along with other miscellaneous ordnance, some dating back nearly a century. Recognizing they were holding history (and potentially a disaster), the family called in the pros.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad arrived on the scene but quickly realized this required specialized eyes. They called in U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians to handle the hand-off.
Even though these items are massive pieces of military history, they won’t be heading to a museum. The Navy marked the entire stash for destruction. Why? Because even after 100 years, the explosives inside can become incredibly unstable. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed that despite an initial look, some of these items still posed a "possible explosive hazard."
The Sheriff’s Office is using this as a major PSA for the community: if you find old military "memorabilia" that looks like it could go boom, leave it alone.
Don't touch it. Don't move it.
Call 911. As the bomb squad put it: "A simple untrained look is often not enough to distinguish inert military memorabilia from live munitions." In other words, don't play hero with Grandpa's souvenirs.
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