Walter Bell

Bell recalls search for missing H-bomb in Ga.

Almost five decades after its initial search, the Air Force has new information regarding a hydrogen bomb that went missing in 1958. At that time, Air Force Sgt. Walter Bell, along with other members of the Air Force, went in search of the missing “weapon.”

A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel recently told the government that he had pinpointed the location of what he referred to as the “exploded bomb.” Derek Duke stated that the possible location is in the Wassaw Sound, between Little Tybee and Wassaw islands, about 15 miles of Savannah, Ga.

Reviewing Duke’s report, Lt. Col. Frank Smolinsky, an Air Force spokesman, stated that a visit to the area would be “prudent” in light of the “expert consensus.”

Bell, a Sparta resident who was stationed at Hunter Air Force Base and served in the munitions branch in Savannah at the time of the 1958 incident, recalled reading about the renewed search in a regional newspaper.

“The guy in the paper claims to know the location and perhaps he does,” he said.

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