Buckroe Beach is located in Hampton, Virginia on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, north of Fort Monroe. Buckroe Beach is oriented northeast to southwest and is approximately 3,670 feet long by 300 feet wide, at low tide. It consists of approximately 13 acres of gently sloping beachfront and 4 acres of tidal area. A four-foot high concrete seawall bounds the beach to the west. Eight jetties and a pier, oriented perpendicular to the seawall, extend into the Chesapeake Bay from the beach. The beach varies in width from approximately 60 feet to 260 feet at mean low water (MLW). Buckroe Beach is owned by the City of Hampton and serves as a recreation area for the general public.   

In July and August 1990, the City of Hampton, Virginia, conducted a beach replenishment project at Buckroe Beach, placing approximately 280,000 cubic yards of sand over a 3,660 linear foot section of the beach. The sand material was dredged from the bottom of Chesapeake Bay approximately 2 miles offshore to a depth of 8 feet from the borrow area. There was no screening for munitions debris (MD) at the borrow area location as the available historical records were checked and it appeared the borrow area was outside the expected firing area of nearby Fort Monroe. Following completion of the 1990 beach replenishment MEC were reported on the beach and removed by local Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units. There were also several removal actions between 1990 and 1994 managed by the USACE. In 1996, the City of Hampton conducted another beach replenishment project placing approximately 56,500 cubic yards of sand over a 1900 linear foot section of the beach. This northern portion of the beach was losing sand due to erosion and storm events. During the 1996 replenishment effort, the sand was dredged from a depth of 12 feet and screened with a rebar grate at the discharge point to prevent MEC items larger than 76 millimeters from being placed on the beach. Unfortunately the grate failed during the replenishment effort and had to be repaired. At least one item, which was recovered, was known to have been dredged onto the beach. Consequently, some MEC may have been deposited during the 1996 effort. In November 1990, USACE, determined that Buckroe Beach was eligible under Defense Environmental Response Program- FUDS (DERPFUDS) based on the military origin of the MEC. USACE was charged to determine if further action was warranted.

In 2001, the City of Hampton, Fire Department Haz-Mat Captain reported the MEC incidents at Buckroe Beach to the USEPA and in June 2002 met with USEPA and toured the beach. The USEPA quickly contacted USACE about the MEC. Of the various MEC items recovered at Buckroe Beach since 1997, two (2) were reported to be Marine Marker MK25 flares used by the U.S. Navy. The flares were likely washed up from naval training exercises found all along the local coast line and determined to not be associated with the beach replenishment activities. Indications are that most of the MEC items discovered since 1997, including the more recent items conducted since 2000, were inadvertently dug up by individuals using metal detectors, usually below low tide in shallow water.