The mortar was safely destroyed by the U.S. Air Force
An angler casting for bait on Lake Murray pulled up what was believed to be a WWII-era unexploded ordnance last week. Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialists from the U.S. Air Force identified the hardware as an 81-mm military mortar.
Aided by the SCDNR, SLED, and local sheriff’s offices from Saluda, Lexington, and Newberry, the Air Force destroyed the mortar after burying it in the sand.
They believe the mortar was lost in the lake during WWII training, when the U.S. Army Air Corps pilots trained to drop bombs before deploying overseas. The 81-mm mortars were often used as “dummy bombs.” Pilots dropped them on several of the islands around Lake Murray. These dummy bombs usually had no major explosive devices, and created only a smoke trail. This smoke trail aided pilots in seeing where the training bomb landed.
Traffic on Hwy. 391 and Blacks Bridge was briefly halted
The explosion seen by the public when authorities destroyed the mortar was more than likely only the charge used to destroy such devices, and not a charge from the mortar itself. Although this particular mortar likely posed no threat of ever blowing up, it was destroyed out of an abundance of caution.
The angler was catching bait with his cast net, and when he brought the net up, he saw what appeared to be a bomb. He dropped it back into the water and alerted authorities to what he’d caught and where he’d released it. Divers spent several hours over the span of two days looking for the mortar. Once they found it, they alerted the Air Force, which identified the mortar and took steps to destroy it.
They buried the mortar on a nearby bank, packed with explosives. Traffic was halted from crossing nearby Blacks Bridge during the detonation. The detonation can be seen in the attached video. The video was provided by the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office.
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