‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing’: WWII shell casings wash up in Surfside Beach

Hurricane Florence brought more than wind and rain to the Grand Strand.

In Surfside Beach, one woman said she found shell casings from World War II buried in the sand.

“They were partially buried and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing because I knew gun shells had no business being on the beach,” Lisa Klein said.

Klein said the casing read SL 43 and SL 44. After doing a Google search, she said she found the casings are from a Browning machine gun. The casings are dated 1943 and 1944.

“I sent the picture to a friend that’s been in the Army 18 years and he said they were huge and definitely didn’t come from a rifle,” she said.

Hurricane Florence, which hit North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, washed up conch shells, sea slugs and lobster claws.

This story was originally published September 21, 2018 at 10:25 AM.