The Army Corps of Engineers addressing safety concerns regarding unexploded ammunition at the former Spencer Artillery Range.
UT Extension Van Buren County Director Chris Binkley said the site served as a training ground for soldiers from Camp Forrest in Tullahoma during the early 1940s. Binkley said the military selected the location because the local topography across Van Buren, Warren, Sequatchie, and Bledsoe counties was similar to the terrain soldiers would encounter in Germany during World War II.
“They used it to train, you know, like for mortars and anti-tank rockets and target rockets and projectiles, and things like that, was used on that training ground,” Binkley said. “It entitled over 30,000 acres when it was first, you know, when it was in its heyday so to speak.”
Binkley said the land was held by timber companies for decades following the war before being sold to private individuals for residential use. Binkley said the discovery of old munitions has increased recently as new residents, including members of an Amish community, began clearing ground for development.
“Some of them have been in the earth out there for that many years since the 1940s and so they’re turning them up,” Binkley said. “And some of them could be live, some of them could not. So you know, you take the same course of action just because you don’t know.”
Binkley said the Army Corps of Engineers is ramping up education efforts because the increased population in the area has led to more frequent encounters with the decades-old artillery. Binkley said warning signs have been placed along the Trail of Tears, which runs through a portion of the former range, to inform the public of the proper safety protocols.
“You want to make sure that people are educated because you know, you don’t want them to come across some of these ordnance and if it’s live and they go to move it and it goes off, you know, that could mean that could cause some serious harm if not death,” Binkley said. “So you know, you want to make sure that people are educated to know what they’re looking for when they’re out there.”
Binkley said anyone who discovers a suspected mortar or projectile should leave the object alone and immediately contact the local Sheriff’s department. Binkley said law enforcement will then coordinate with the appropriate agencies to safely remove and dispose of the ordnance.
“Just let them be and then call the Sheriff’s department and the Sheriff’s department will get somebody out there to remove it,” Binkley said.