THEY only went looking for a lost toy.

Two Tidworth schoolboys were shooting their play guns at each other in a field close to their homes when they lost one of their sponge bullets.

But when Luke McLuskey and Lucas Marsh went in search of the harmless plaything, they stumbled across a potentially lethal weapon.

The two Cubs, of the 1st Tidworth Scout Group, were playing in the park near their home on the Zouch Estate when they discovered a live grenade.

The 6-bang practice distraction grenade, which is powerful enough to blow a child’s hand off, was lying on an embankment.

Now the friends have been praised for their quick-thinking actions and have been handed certificates of special recognition and silver salvers by the town’s mayor.

Luke, nine, and eight-year-old Lucas were shocked to see the weapon lying in the bushes, but knew not to touch it.

While Luke stayed nearby, Lucas ran to raise the alarm with Luke’s stepmother, Antonia.

The assistant Cub leader told the Andover Advertiser: “When they come home saying they had found a grenade you think they are messing around.

“If the boys had picked it up and it went off, it could have killed them.”

Antonia alerted her husband, Sergeant Rory McCluskey, of 5 Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, who carefully transported the grenade back to the Tidworth Garrison guard room.

Army bomb disposal experts were then drafted in to deal with the grenade.

After hearing about the boys’ heroic efforts, Stephen Rhodes, Akela of the 1st Tidworth Scout Group, designed the special certificates and invited Tidworth mayor, Councillor Chris Franklin, to present the boys with the certificates and engraved silver salvers.

Mr Rhodes, said: “When we found out what had happened we were very proud.

“It is not every day we get a story like that.”