World War I-era cannon discovered from high school's construction site

In a surprise discovery, a World War I-era German cannon was found buried under the pitcher’s mound when a construction team was digging up a baseball field in Canada’s Ontario province.

Crews were digging up the ballpark on Monday which is going to become the site of a new public high school, said officials in Amherstburg, adding that the forgotten cannon was found buried that was formerly on display at Centennial Park.

The officials revealed that the cannon was brought to the town in 1922 and was displayed alongside a cenotaph at General Amherst High School.

The cenotaph was moved to Centennial Park in 1971 to make way for an expansion to the school and the cannon, which was determined to be in poor condition, was buried underneath the monument. The cannon was forgotten when the cenotaph was moved again in the 1980s and the area was turned into a baseball field with the gun still buried underneath.

Dave Hachey, an equipment operator for Sterling Ridge Infrastructure, was sat in his excavator, digging out the earth to install footings for a new high school in the town, when his shovel hit something it had never hit before, CTV News reported.

Hachey had found a weapon of war used by the Germans in the First World War in the early 1900s. It has been identified as a German 77 Field Gun.

Despite years of rust and twisted, failing metal, the shape of what was once a devastating weapon is still in tact. The gun is now being stored at a town facility.

The Greater Essex County District School Board said the cannon is being donated to the Town of Amherstburg.

“[We’ve] already received communication from a number of military historical associations that are interested in what we’re doing with it and have even offered to help restore it,” Amherstburg Mayor Aldo DiCarlo told CBC News. “The historical significance I think just can’t be overstated, it is really something.”