For Immediate Release

Monday, Oct. 15, 2018

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Gloucester Police Respond after Resident Finds WWII-Era Shell in Basement

75mm Shell Was Determined to be Inert

GLOUCESTER — Chief John McCarthy reports that the Gloucester Police Department responded along with a state bomb squad after someone found a WWII-era shell while cleaning out their mother’s basement.

Police responded to a home on Bond Street at 10:36 a.m. Upon arrival, officers were met by a 44-year-old Rockland woman who reported that she was cleaning her 86-year-old mother’s basement when she noticed the ordinance on her late father’s old workbench.

The area was secured, and the State Police Bomb Squad responded to take custody of the shell. Technicians determined that the shell was inert and did not pose any danger. No other possible explosives or unsafe items were found in the home.

The 75mm shell was one of the primary rounds used by American tanks during World War II. Among its uses was in the main gun of the M4 Sherman medium tank, the most widely used tank by the Allies in the war.

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