Defence Online

WWII Bomb disposal in Solomon Islands

Land October 6, 2016

Work has recently been undertaken by a team from 33 Engineer Regiment to find and destroy unexploded WWII munitions on the Solomon Islands.

As part of Operation Render Safe more than 800kg of unexploded munitions have been destroyed by the team, who are normally based at Carver Barracks in Saffron Walden, Essex.

With more than 180 personnel from four different countries involved, Operation Render Safe is an ongoing Australian Defence Force led commitment to explosive ordnance disposal in the South West Pacific.

The team has worked closely with the Royal Solomon Island Police Force to locate the explosive remnants in and around Russell Island, who have provided invaluable experience and ordnance knowledge to the crew from Essex.

Local knowledge has also been gathered through engaging with the local communities who provided important information to the engineers, and more than 680 individual items were found in just the first ten days. Explosive Ordnance Disposal Operator Sergeant Lee McCarthy said children were a good source of information: “We went to one of the villages in the south, bumped into some local kids, started talking to them and within a few minutes they had pointed out to us where an item was and we went round dealt with that item and got rid of it,” he said.

The munitions found have ranged from grenades and 37mm projectiles to 75mm anti-tank heat rounds and 105mm high explosive projectiles.

Conditions for the British Army team have been tough, with overgrown jungle and 30 degree temperatures plus high humidity.

Watch the team in action:

“I’ve never done anything like this before to be honest. It’s a lot different to the usual operations we do in the UK so coming over here and getting to do more humanitarian sort of stuff has been a very good experience,” Corporal Millin said.

“It’s been really good collaborating with the Australian forces, the Canadians and Kiwi contingent as well, passing experiences and knowledge from nation to nation, learning about their equipment and different people’s techniques and procedures,” Sergeant McCarthy said.

Speaking about the removal, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Operator Corporal Scott Millin said the operation will have a big local impact. “Ultimately it’s made the Solomon Islands a lot safer because there’s a big problem out here with locals using explosives to make fish bombs,”

“The big problem is the people who find the explosives don’t really know how to deal with them, so in essence they’re hurting themselves, so every one we take away just makes it a lot safer.”

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Post written by: Vicky Maggiani

Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.