The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, commonly known as the Thunderbirds, perform at Cocoa Beach, Fla. and Patrick Space Force Base, April 2023. Personnel from Patrick SFB helped safely remove a WWII-era bomb discovered near an elementary school in Cocoa Beach on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Nicolas A. Myers/U.S. Air Force)
(Tribune News Service) — Military personnel based at Patrick Space Force Base safely removed a World War II-era bomb from a construction site near Freedom 7 Elementary in Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Tuesday.
Airmen with the 45th Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were dispatched after the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office initially responded to a report of suspected unexploded ordnance at the site, according to a press release from Space Launch Delta 45 at the base.
The item later identified by the disposal team as an American-made practice bomb was found by a construction crew that had been breaking ground near the school.
“This type of ordnance does not contain high explosives but is equipped with a smoke charge to mark the location of impact during air training exercises,” the press release stated.
The disposal team confirmed it was safe to move and brought it to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for disposal.
The team’s role with the Space Force is to provide first-responder support to launches from CCSFS and Kennedy Space Center.
“They are also responsible for the location, identification, render safe, and disposal of hazardous unexploded conventional, chemical, and biological ordnance, as well as improvised explosives,” the release stated.
The group has a partnership with the sheriff’s office to ensure public safety.
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