A 500-pound unexploded bomb was found at this construction site on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Air Force officials said 18th Wing explosive ordnance disposal technicians safely detonated a 500-pound bomb left over from World War II on Thursday evening.
The ordnance was discovered Tuesday by workers building a home for the 33rd Rescue Squadron and its complement of new HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters, wing spokeswoman Master Sgt. Natasha Stannard said by email Thursday.
Experts determined the bomb could not be “removed or defused in its condition” and should be detonated in place, she said.
Engineers from the 18th Civil Engineering Group, including EOD technicians and pavement and equipment personnel, were tasked with carrying out a controlled detonation, Stannard said.
Buildings within a 1,574-foot radius, including 66 people in 34 households, were temporarily evacuated. Other nearby residents were asked to stay inside their homes during the operation.
Japanese police closed Route 58 from the Mizugama intersection to the Kadena rotary.
“Government officials, the local police and others did a phenomenal job,” the 18th Wing’s commander, Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans, said in the release. “They were great partners through the entire process.”
Approximately 10,000 tons of ordnance were dropped on the island during the Battle of Okinawa between March and September 1945, according to Okinawa prefecture’s General Bureau website. Crews disposed of nearly 15 tons between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.
