By: Stephanie Jacksis
FORT HOOD - The Fort Hood Explosives Ordinance Disposal team was called out to a rural area of Lampasas County Thursday evening, after a crew clearing trees found a partially buried hand grenade.
The team elected to blow the grenade up in place rather than try to uncover it, as the triggering mechanism was not fully visible. The Lampasas Fire Department was brought out to ensure the termination of the grenade wouldn't create any grass fires in the area.
"It was really loud, and could feel it," Fire Marshall Reece Oestreich said. "I was several hundred yards away and could still feel the pressure of the explosion hit us."
But where did the explosive device come from? Locals have a theory it could have been left behind from a 1952 military exercise called 'Operation Longhorn.'
"That's when thousands of military troops were in this area, and it could have been sitting there since that operation," Oestreich said.
The incident occurred in a field off County Road 2211 South of FM 581 east of Lometa.
No one was injured.
