The legacy of the Second World War and the damage caused by it was prevalent everywhere back then. While searching for fossils in a nearby farmer's field, I came upon a hand grenade that had been left behind by Allied soldiers ca I was with an adult who carefully led me away and reported it to the Air Force Police on base. They decided to use the photo as a public service warning to children of all ages in the community to be aware and stay well clear of any such unexploded ordnance.
The cover of the 23 March edition of der Flugplatz, the magazine of No. The boy was Harold Skaarup, a name familiar to many older MP veterans. In , 'Hal' joined the reserve component of the Canadian Armed Forces' new dual-function Security Branch as an intelligence officer.
After transferring to the regular force in , into the newly separated Intelligence Branch, he twice served as a staff member with the Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security in Borden - first in and later in the early s.
While scouring an area where his neighbour had previous found fossils, Hal spotted the grenade. Recalling the numerous lectures given at the base school about the dangers posed by the various types of military ordinance that frequently turned up in the region—including unexploded munitions from two World Wars, jettisoned aircraft fuel tanks and debris from crashed RCAF fighter jets—Hal stopped right where he was until the neighbour drew him back and the two got out of the field with wary eyes still cast toward the small bomb.
The next day the school principal summoned young Hal from his classroom, and he was met by Corporal Armand E. Precoor from the station's Air Force Police section. Far from being in trouble, the youngster was asked to accompany the service policeman back to the site along with a base photographer to make a photo story for der Flugplatz about unexploded ordinance safety. Hal believes the grenade was later assessed by the base ordinance disposal team to be inactive, although the story he was told at the time was that it had been destroyed in place perhaps as a way to dissuade other less cautious children from touching such objects if found in the future.
