Garages are often filled with various items, but stumbling upon a piece of Cold War history is entirely unexpected. In Bellevue, Washington, the bomb squad recently encountered such a find when called to inspect parts of a military-grade missile discovered in a resident’s garage.
The missile remnants, identified as parts of a Douglas AIR-2 Genie missile, were found by members of the bomb squad during an inspection. The giant missile was missing its warhead, and authorities confirmed it to be inert and safe. According to the Bellevue police, the missile belonged to the resident’s late neighbour, who had purchased it from an estate sale.
None could be reached despite efforts to contact the late neighbour’s family. The resident, handling the neighbour’s estate, voluntarily called the police after learning about the missile’s origins. The missile, a Cold War-era relic, was identified as a historical artefact and did not pose a threat as it lacked its warhead and rocket fuel.
Due to the lack of interest from the military in reclaiming the missile, the police decided to leave it with the resident for donation. It remains uncertain whether the missile remnant will find its way to the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio, as initially proposed.
Officer Seth Tyler of the Bellevue Police Department noted that while responding to calls about unexploded ordnance is not uncommon due to the proximity to military bases, encountering a Cold War missile in a garage was unprecedented. The department humorously referenced Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” suggesting that such an occurrence might not happen again for a long time.
