Idaho woman finds 1938 Nazi explosive in parents' shed

MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho woman said she discovered a Nazi explosive as she was helping her parents clean out their shed.

Diana Landa identified the artifact by a Nazi insignia and the year 1938 etched on the bottom of it. It still had a propellant on it, she said.

Landa's parents have lived in their Meridian home for 25 years. They said they hardly used the old shed they cleaned out last week. They have no idea where the explosive came from and how it got there.

Landa brought the bomb back to her home in Kuna, Idaho, and had planned to keep the artifact or donate it to a museum. But a co-worker recommended she talk to experts first.

"He's, like, really into history," Landa said of the co-worker. "He was saying it could be an explosive and how unstable these things can be if they're old."

Landa had been keeping the item in her own shed, but she worried about what might happen to her neighbors if her co-worker was right.

The Mountain Home Air Force Base bomb squad confirmed her co-worker's suspicions. The squad arrived to Landa's home on Thursday and X-rayed the device. The team identified it as a World War II-era 37-mm German round that "was found to be hazardous" and has since destroyed it via detonation, according to a public affairs spokeswoman for the base.

Landa shared the news of her discovery on Facebook. She considered it "a once-in-life-time-experience."

"It's a little scary," she said. "Now I think about it, we should've been more careful. But we didn't know anything about weapons."

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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com

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