WAIMANALO — Halfway through a community-initiated cleanup project, a Bellows Air Force Station landfill that was supposed to be ordnance free has yielded six torpedoes and numerous shell casings.

The military said all of the ordnance were dummy models used for practice, but residents were alarmed at the discovery nonetheless, especially since they were told from the beginning that no munitions or excess contaminants were in the dump and therefore the cleanup didn't qualify for cleanup funds.

Landfill 24, or Pier Dump, was used from 1942 to 1945 as a landfill and burn pit.

The Marines own the land, but responsibility for any cleanup of the site fell to the previous owner, the Air Force, which sought funding through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. However, the site did not qualify because materials there did not pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.

With the landfill just feet from the beach, the community pushed for a cleanup and prevailed with the help of U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai'i, and a $2 million earmark.

Work began in September, is 50 percent completed and is expected to be done next month, officials said.

There was no military concern about the site, said Mabel Ann Spencer, a member of the Bellows Restoration Advisory Board that works with the military on restoration projects.

"But when they started excavation, they found the site was intensive and they had to call the unexploded ordnance people, which showed there was some concern," Spencer said. "It started with one torpedo and ended up finding six."

Spencer said the discovery alarmed people and prompted a meeting of the Bellows advisory board Nov. 15, when dozens of people representing the community, Hawaiian organizations, the state, the military and the contractor discussed concerns.

The restoration advisory board has been involved in 25 cleanups at Bellows, according to Spencer.

Wilson Ho, chairman of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, said the original plan for the site was to cover it up.

Learning about the weapons called into question the military's judgment, he said.

"It was a form of betrayal that we had been lied to," Ho said. "Now everybody is concerned how many more spots had been covered up."

Munitions were discovered at the site on previous investigations, said Claudia de Leon, community relations manager for the Environment Restoration Office at Hickam Air Force Base.

"It wasn't a surprise for them to find this," de Leon said.

At least six pre-World War II torpedoes were found along with smaller bomb casings, none of which contained explosives, she said, adding that a team of disposal experts examined the munitions. Unfortunately there are no records of what went into the dump site, but the conclusion was the torpedoes and shell casing are harmless, she said.

"We believe they were used as practice bombs and just tossed in the site as trash," de Leon said.

Marine Corps Maj. Alan Crouch said the Marine Corps treated the discovery of the torpedoes with caution.

The Marines use the site while training, and it is a public recreation area on weekends.

"The Marines did quickly verify that the torpedoes were as expected, inert practice torpedoes which never contained any explosives," Crouch said. "The used casings discovered will also be 'de-miled' or demilitarized as is our modern practice and used for recycling or appropriately disposed."

Crouch said the munitions were a small part of the 8,500 tons of debris being sifted and removed from the landfill.

De Leon said the project is on time and on budget.

Still, she said the Air Force finds the concerns raised at the meeting legitimate and is trying to get answers to the questions posed.

Carroll Cox, president of EnviroWatch Inc. an environmental watchdog group, said he found it upsetting that waste from the landfill is going to another community on O'ahu and that no one could tell him what the levels of toxicity are.

The waste will be taken to PVT, a waste dump site in Nanakuli.

"Why take contaminants from one site to spread them to another?" Cox said. "Now you got two sites with contaminants."

Cox said he will ask the military and PVT to reconsider the plan to take waste there and will ask them to ship it to the Mainland.

"I don't blame them for what has been placed there because that was the practice in those days," he said. "But I do blame them for the manner in which they are handling it now."