WWII-era ammunition found at Redmond work site
A construction crew unearthed World War II-era ammunition at a site in Redmond Thursday, prompting police to call in the U.S. Air Force to dispose of the unstable ammunition east of town, officers said.
The located items were may have been related to military training in the Central Oregon area in 1943, Redmond police said in a posting on the department’s Facebook page.
They declined to identify the area where the items were found, but police said they had determined they were .50-caliber tracer rounds.
The largest military field exercise to occur in the Pacific Northwest, it was known as the Oregon Maneuver and lasted from July to October of 1943, taking place in Deschutes, Crook, Harney, Klamath, Lake, Jefferson and Grant counties.
Army Infantry divisions including the 91st, 96th, and 104th took part in the Oregon Maneuver.
After the training, the 91st Infantry Division left for staging in North Africa, then deployed in Italy. The 96th Infantry Division left for staging in Hawaii, then deployed in the Philippines and Okinawa. The 104th Infantry Division landed in France on September 7th, 1944 and were also involved in operations in northern France, the Rhineland and central Germany.
“We caution the area citizens that if they do come across old ammunition or other unknown military objects to leave them undisturbed and call your area law enforcement agency for proper handling and disposal,” the department said.
