World War II illumined and gave focus to lives as has seldom occurred before or since. Perhaps for no one was this more true than the Traverse City High School Class of 1943. Though places such as Normandy, Bastogne, and Iwo Jima were as yet unheard of, the boys of the Class of 1943 knew that somewhere in their destinies such places lay.
Apparently it was in that spirit of illumination and and focus that someone discharged the Civil War cannon on the Grand Traverse County Courthouse lawn on the eve of the Traverse City High School homecoming game of 1942. At that time the cannon was in its original carriage and could be pivoted and elevated. A projectile arced over town and exploded to the west leaving a large crater. As can be imagined, this event caused a great uproar although fortunately no one was hurt. The perpetrators were never caught. Nonetheless, it was known that several members of the class of 1943 were drilling regularly on weekends at Camp Grayling and had specific knowledge of artillery.
After all these years I am now ready to come clean – it was me and my friends who discharged the cannon that night.
I have now hidden a geocache at the spot where that shell impacted and exploded. To find the geocache, the finder will have to perform the necessary calculations based on these data: The cannon muzzle was elevated to an angle of 31.5 degrees and the projectile was propelled at an initial velocity of 184.025 meters per second. The cannon was fired at a bearing of 248.67 degrees. To determine location of the impact, ignore factors of wind, terrain, etc. After you have calculated distance, use your GPSr to project a waypoint or use Ed Williams' Great Circle Calculator to do so. (Cannon balls don't travel in great circles but in this instance they did.) This cache was inspired by the Cowspots' Hole in One!.
The cannon has since been placed on its brick and concrete mount at least in part to avoid a repeat of such shenanigans. With the perspective of years, I am sure that is a good thing.