St. Louis mortar shell explosion brings back memories at Dowell salvage yard

A Monday mortar shell explosion at a suburban St. Louis metal recycling plant that killed two people brings back a very vivid memory for Steve Cobin of STM Recycling in Dowell.

It was in October 1996 that a "box of scrap" dropped off for recycling contained a live anti-tank missile, apparently a discarded keepsake from a war.

Cobin said when he saw the live ammo round he told himself "God, almighty, this isn't good!" and he called a munitions friend in the Illinois National Guard. The man called Scott Air Force Base, which sent a bomb squad and track-mounted robot.

"They told me to take a backhoe and dig a big hole," Cobin remembers. Rt. 51 through Dowell was closed while the bomb squad detonated the anti-tank missile carried to the hole by the robot.

But, what is chilling to Cobin is this thought: As the last members of the Greatest Generation die and their children and grandchildren deal with their belongings--some of it war-related-- there's another mortar shell or anti-tank missile out there. Just be careful!