Magnet fishing has once again reeled in more than rusty nails and discarded metal from the depths of Charles River, as a second explosive device was unearthed in Needham this Wednesday. According to the Boston 25 News, local police and the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad were dispatched to Kendrick Street following the discovery, and a deteriorated bazooka round, possibly dating back to World War II, was safely detonated in the nearby Needham Dog Park.
Avid magnet fisherman Josh Parker, who was accompanied by WBZ-TV's David Wade for a story on magnet fishing, was the one to make the find; in a state of disbelief, Parker expressed, "I'm speechless, I'm shaking, I'm nervous," as he pulled up the belligerent relic, teeming with its historical potential for destruction. Parker's recollections to CBS Boston painted a picture of a time capsule opened, the round's "cone shaped head, the fins on the bottom, I can see some wires" alluding to its wartime origins which was following the same vein from which, just last Friday, another similar military projectile was found.
The recent prevalence of explosive discoveries has sparked a local and historical curiosity, as well as a concern that has set Needham residents to hear explosions twice in less than a week, and authorities now contemplate deploying dive teams to discover what other remnants may lie beneath the commonly frequented Kendrick Street bridge.
To address the palpable tension, police have ensured the public's ongoing safety, posting guards at the park entrances and alerting residents prior to the controlled detonations, the town has felt its quiet pierced by echoes of the past, Canine companions and their owners were given advance warning on the potential for disturbance, as authorities set to work diffusing a physical echo from battles long since ceased, yet incidents like these remind us that the remnants of human conflict can endure nearly as stubbornly as the memory of the wars that forged them.
