Sailors assigned to Navy Explosive Disposal Mobile Unit 5, Detachment Marianas, are about to get a history lesson.
Everybody else is about to get out of the way.
Beginning at 3 p.m. local time Thursday, the area surrounding Naval Base Guam Ordnance Annex will be evacuated to allow for a “render safe” procedure on a 500-pound, World War II-era bomb found earlier this week, according to this Naval Base Guam Facebook post.
The bomb was discovered at a construction site near the entrance to the annex, formerly known as Naval Magazine Guam.
Anyone within 2,150 feet of the construction site will be moved out during the operation. Here’s a map:
Local police will be on hand to assist with traffic near the gate entrance, according to the release. The all-clear is expected to be sounded by 6 p.m. The bomb will then be moved to another area on the nearly 18,000-acre annex “for proper disposal.”
This isn’t the first time aging unexploded ordnance has been unearthed on the island — for example, a Navy EOD team defused a 1,000-pound bomb found on the base in 2010.