Biological warfare installations

Through co-operation with the WRS, Dr. Baldwin secured the services of a formidable group of scientists and technicians. A site outside Frederick, Maryland, was selected for a biological warfare installation and construction of the future Camp Detrick was begun in the spring of 1943. This... 

Mention has been made of the biological warfare installations established in World War II. ° Camp Detrick, the first and most important of those installations, was activated on 17 April 1943 under the command of Lt. Col. William S. Bacon. Bacon was succeeded by Cols. Martin B. 

Although the committee did not visit or evaluate a sufficient number of ships or stations to provide a fully generalized conclusion on overall Navy BW and CW defense readiness levels, the data gathered throughout the study combined with the collective experience of the committee point to a clear conclusion Navy chemical and biological warfare defense readiness needs improvement. In particular, careful attention must be paid to threats in ports and at shore installations. 

Navy readiness for chemical and biological warfare defense needs improvement in the following areas establishment, validation, and enforcement of standards, performance and material condition of installed protective systems, availability and condition of protective equipment, shelf life of medical countermeasures, field exercise programs, basic and unit training, and readiness reporting. 

The MCU2A/P Chemical-Biological Mask, with a serviceable canister installed, protects the face, eyes, and respiratory tract from chemical and biological warfare agents and radioactive dust. The MCU-2A/P is the standard ground crew mask used by all Air Force personnel. The MCU-2A/P has been fielded since early 1988. 

This action by the Secretary of War led the Chief, CWS, in January 1944 to raise the Special Assignments Branch to the status of a division. The new division, known as the Special Projects Division, was headed successively by Cols. Martin B. Chittick, J. Enrique Zanetti, and H. N. Worthley. In carrying out the main responsibility for biological warfare preparations the division supervised the activities of some 3,900 persons, of whom about 2,800 were Army personnel, about 1,000 Navy, and nearly 100 civilians. The majority of these were stationed at Camp Detrick, and the remainder were divided among the headquarters of the Special Projects Division in Washington and the other BW installations. The approved organization chart for 16 September 1944 listed 9 Army officers and 8 civilians and 6 Navy officers and 7 Navy enlisted men in the headquarters... 

The Special Projects Division was to develop measures for defense and retaliation against BW, to produce or procure the necessary material, to collect and evaluate intelligence on enemy activity, to maintain liaison with other military and civilian organizations concerned with biological warfare here and abroad, to prepare training publications and conduct instruction in biological warfare, and to supply technical advice to the armed forces. " The division had an immense task and had to do the work hurriedly because of the urgency of the problem as understood at that time. Construction, research, and instruction were necessarily simultaneous operations at all installations of the Special Projects Division. 

To a greater degree, perhaps, than in any of the other CWS research programs, the one for biological warfare was a joint service undertaking. The Navy, for example, provided almost a quarter of the technical staff required at Camp Detrick and other test installations, drawing them principally from the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and the Bureau... 

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