BLAST FROM THE PAST

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Apr 13, 2007 by Taylor Atkins

By Taylor Atkins

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

A call to the air traffic control tower, a wave signaling the go- ahead and a yelp of "fire in the hole."

Boom.

That was it. In a matter of seconds, a World War II Japanese land mine was destroyed Thursday by 2 pounds of explosives at Forbes Field.

Retired Lt. Col. Doug Jacobs, historian for the Museum of the Kansas National Guard at Forbes, had hoped for a different ending for the rare artifact, donated to the museum in a Kansas man's estate. Jacobs said he hoped the mine would have been safe enough to have on display.

"You don't usually see these in such good condition," he said. "It would have been a good piece for us to have. My hope was that we would be able to study it more, have it in the museum."

Jacobs said the estate with the land mine first came into the museum's possession in the past year, along with documents, other military artifacts and a recording of Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Beret." After months of research and examination of the mine, it was determined to be a potential danger.

Though the Japanese symbol meaning "safe" was stamped on the device, an X-ray showed otherwise. Residue from compound picric acid, the original explosive in the mine, had lodged in the safety cap. Jacobs said any movement, even just unscrewing the cap, could cause it to detonate.

Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority explosive ordnance officers decided to shoot the safety cap to see if that would detonate the compound acid. If the mine didn't explode, it would be examined further by explosive ordnance officers to determine if it was officially deactivated and safe for display.

Lt. Frank Rezac, an explosive ordnance officer in full bomb gear minus the gloves, removed the land mine from the storage safe at the museum and transported it in an explosive disposal container to a field next to an old runway at Forbes.

With the small crowd, which included Jacobs, MTAA officers, firefighters and the media, standing 50 yards away, a shot was fired at the land mine.

Nothing happened.

After Rezac and Jim Gardner, chief of the MTAA, took a closer look at the mine, they told the crowd there would be a second chance for an explosion.

"It blew out the bottom of the mine," Gardner said, explaining the results of shooting it.

An examination showed the acid was all over the inside of the device.

"The only way we can be sure to render it safe is to detonate it. This time you'll have a much bigger boom," he said.

Gardner gave Jacobs a chance to choose the next course of action. Though Jacobs wanted the mine for the museum's collection, he said safety was his priority.

"I'm disappointed," he said solemnly after the blast, which left a 5-foot-wide and 1-foot deep-hole in the ground. "But I think there is a lesson here. It's not unusual for these military souvenirs to be brought home, and you have no way of knowing if they are safe. This is a perfect example."

Jacobs advised anyone with unrecognizable military artifacts at home to get them examined immediately. Though this mine survived more than 60 years, any wrong move could have been a disaster.

Gardner and the MTAA officers searched the ground for pieces of the mine after it was detonated, but Rezac said few would be found. The blast, which created a significant shock wave, was strong enough to destroy the mine.

"Now you kind of get the idea of what the guys are feeling in Iraq," Gardner said as he examined the explosion's destruction.

Jacobs said he had photos of the mine and a rubber model, so a replica of the original piece would still be a part of the collection.

He said Thursday's explosion was the first time he had ever destroyed an artifact.

"And I hope it's the last," he said.

Taylor Atkins can be reached

at (785)295-1187

or taylor.atkins@cjonline.com.