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Is There a WWII Bomb Lurking Underground Just Waiting to Blow Up Your House?

How do you cope with unexpected explosions? Who will cover the cost

Mary DeVries
7 min readMar 5, 2021
Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash

You expect there might be some damage when the air raid sirens go off and you rush to the bomb shelter in the middle of a war. You huddle there with your neighbors similarly clad in nightclothes with a coat hastily thrown over the top. As you listen to the explosions you wonder if your house will still be there when you emerge.

At least, that’s how I imagine it based on my viewing and reading of WWII novels and movies. That’s just the way it was during the war, but nothing could stop the plucky grit of the British people. Keep calm and drink another cuppa tea, and all that.

One does not, however, expect an unexploded bomb — most likely dropped 79 years ago during a retaliatory raid on Britain's cultural centers — to force one from one’s home during the middle of nationwide lockdown due to a global pandemic. It kind of feels like the scriptwriters jumped the shark on this one.

On Feb. 26, workers discovered a bomb while excavating for a construction project near the campus of the University of Exeter. 2600 households and 12 university residence halls were evacuated. The Ministry of Defense experts determined that the 2,200lb…

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Mary DeVries
Mary DeVries

Written by Mary DeVries

I delight, despair and write about a life lived around the world. Fueled by Yorkshire Gold tea.

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