A World War II bomb exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwestern Japan on Wednesday. No one was injured but more than 80 flights were cancelled. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he expects flights to resume on Thursday.
The bomb exploded in a taxiway away from any buildings and was caught on video. The explosion left a large crater in the pavement that will take time to repair. A subsequent investigation by the Japanese police and military confirmed that a 500-kilogram American bomb was the cause, but it is too early to know what exactly caused the detonation.
The world is covered in unexploded bombs. During World War II the United States dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs across Japan and throughout the South Pacific. Sometimes these bombs don’t explode and stay on the ground, not detonating. They are still dangerous and the world is full of them. The airport was a launch pad for Japanese pilots during the war.
It is a particular problem in the Solomon Islands, the scene of heavy fighting during the Pacific Campaign. Every year, about 20 people die or are seriously injured by World War II-era weapons left behind by the US and Japan. The US has spent millions to help clean up the area, but people still die while cooking food or taking the wrong step in an area where the ground has shifted and dropped a bomb.
The world is covered in unexploded bombs. During World War II the United States dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs across Japan and throughout the South Pacific. Sometimes these bombs don’t explode and stay on the ground, not detonating. They are still dangerous and the world is full of them. The airport was a launch pad for Japanese pilots during the war.
It is a particular problem in the Solomon Islands, the scene of heavy fighting during the Pacific Campaign. Every year, about 20 people die or are seriously injured by World War II-era weapons left behind by the US and Japan. The US has spent millions to help clean up the area, but people still die while cooking food or taking the wrong step in an area where the ground has shifted and dropped a bomb.
The problem is even worse in Vietnam where the US disposed of millions of weapons during its war. Chuck Searcy, the Vietnam vet who watched a child kick an unexploded rocket while visiting that country decades later, spent the back half of his life cleaning it up. The group he founded, Project Renew, has detonated more than 815,000 weapons in the country. There is still more to come.
Europe is also covered in bombs left over from World War II. The Allies dropped an estimated two million bombs on Germany alone. No one knows how many are waiting underground, ready to explode.
The United States has not been spared the crisis. The Civil War filled the country with unexploded ordnance. Researchers found an unexploded shell at Gettysburg in 2023. Last year, archaeologists found another live clue in Georgia. A local bomb squad found the weapon and planned to detonate it, causing a bit of controversy among historians and Civil War fans who wanted it removed and preserved.
But such a thing is dangerous. In 2008, more than 140 years after the end of the Civil War, the conflict claimed another American life. A Civil War buff in Virginia, Sam White, found an unexploded shell from the battle and took it home to return it. It exploded in his path, and he died instantly.
Every year, Japan inspects its land for unexploded ordnance and every year it finds new bombs to detonate. The one at the bottom of the tarmac taxiway at Miyazaki Airport is one to miss. It’s hard to know how many others are waiting to explode.
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