Armed forces remove bomb from Plymouth garden in successful operation

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Members of the armed forces have been praised for their bravery after a successful operation to remove an unexploded Second World War bomb from a garden and take it out to sea.Devon and Cornwall Police were called on Tuesday morning to St Michael Avenue in the Keyham area of Plymouth after the object was discovered.Since then, a 300-metre cordon has been in place around the site, affecting 1,219 properties and an estimated 3,250 people.On Friday afternoon, Tudor Evans, the leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “I think it is fair to say that the last few days will go down in history for Plymouth.”He spoke after the 500kg bomb had been moved in a military convoy to the sea, where it will be disposed of, and the council was able to lift the protective cordon.He said: “This war-time bomb has really brought out war-time spirit, people coming together to really support each other and whilst it has been really tough, we got through it.“I would like to thank the bomb experts for their bravery, putting their lives on the line to remove the WWII bomb from the garden in Keyham, carefully loading it on to a lorry, driving it slowly to the slipway so it could be loaded on to a boat, taking it out to sea so it could be safely detonated.“As a naval city, this is a first-class example of why our armed forces are the best in the world.”On Friday at 5.32pm, town hall chiefs declared the operation a “success” and announced “you can now return to your homes in Keyham”.Mr Tudor, who said he is “so proud of Plymouth”, described the successful operation as “a day I will never forget”.It included the work of people in a range of organisations who “demonstrated a stellar performance of community resilience and what it truly means to be a