Projectile event in Okinawa, Camp Foster area, Japan on Wed 6th March 2024

The Marine Corps announced plans to evacuate part of a base on Okinawa while Japanese troops dispose of leftover World War II ordnance in a nearby construction zone.

Builders found the unexploded 5-inch naval shell at a construction zone near Camp Foster, according to a statement emailed Tuesday by Capt. Brett Dornhege-Lazaroff, spokesman for Marine Corps Installations Pacific.

The off-base construction zone is in Ginowan on land that was once a Marine Corps housing area, he said by phone later that day. City officials said the shell was uncovered in December.

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel will start work around 10 a.m. Thursday, a Ginowan city official said by phone Tuesday. They will need about two hours to do the job, Dornhege-Lazaroff said. Camp Foster will close Gate 5 — the commissary gate — from 8:30 a.m. until around 1 p.m. that day, according to the release.

Facilities in the southern part of the base — identified on a map provided by the Marines — are required to evacuate from 6 a.m. until an “all clear” is signaled, the statement said.

“It is essential to prioritize the safety and well-being of all personnel,” the statement added. “Personnel residing off-base in the hazard area designated in the map should shelter-in-place away from windows and doors from 0930 until the situation has been declared ‘All Clear.’”

Only facilities within the specified zone must evacuate, the statement said.

The Japanese personnel removing the shell will use equipment designed to contain any explosion within 82 feet, Dornhege-Lazaroff said.

However, out of an abundance of caution, the Marines are evacuating facilities farther away, he said.