Camp Sibert

Live-fire sites Camp Sibert, Ala. Firing range for live CWM, 4.2-in. mortars Likely to contain dud-fired CWM (potentially shock sensitive) 1. Detect subsurface geophysical anomalies 2. Hand excavate anomalies in a containment structure 3. Dispose of CWM in EDS (low volume, less than 100 CWM expected)... 

Early in November 1943, First Lieutenant Howard D. Beckstrom of the US 701st Chemical Maintenance Company based at Baltimore received orders to prepare to go abroad. He was one of an elite group of chemical warfare experts. Trained at a special centre at Camp Sibert in Alabama, it was one of Beckstrom s jobs to supervise the movement of chemical munitions. His destination on this occasion, he was informed, was the main supply point for the Allied armies in Italy the Adriatic port of Bari. His cargo was part of the vast American chemical stockpile 100 tons of mustard gas. 

The original EDS-1 proved its worth in a series of field operations in the continental United States. The sites included Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado (10 GB bomblets) Camp Sibert, Alabama (one CG mortar round) and Spring Valley in Washington, D.C. (15 mustard agent HD artillery rounds). One EDS-1 and two EDS-2s have been used in the ongoing project to destroy 1,220 recovered chemical munitions at Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA), Arkansas, as described below. To update the history of EDS units, operations since 2004 are tabulated in Table 3-6. 

CWS to determine on this location for its new training center/ The Chief of Engineers was accordingly directed in May 1942 to construct the housing facilities for a 5,000-man replacement training center with completion date set for i December 1942/ The new reservation was designated Camp Sibert in honor of the first Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service/ Col. Thomas J. Johnston was made com-manding officer while... 

General Shekerjian, Commanding General, Replacement Training Center, Camp Sibert, Alabama. 

The commanding general of the service command had ample authority on which to base his recommendations of 24 May, for just twelve days before the ASF had designated Camp Sibert a Class I installation of the... 

In contrast to ASF activity at the depots, whose revised organizational structures were looked upon approvingly by key personnel in the CWS, the ASF decision to put Camp Sibert under the jurisdiction of the commanding general of the Fourth Service Command, was not viewed with favor by the Chief, CWS. General Somervell, nevertheless, stood by the ASF directive to make Sibert a Class I activity of the Fourth Service Command, as noted above. General Porter undoubtedly had that situation in mind when in September 1944 he set up the San Jose Project Division in his office to supervise all activities of the Panama installation. Porter was taking a precaution to insure that all responsibility for San Jose would remain under CWS control. 

For details on the origins of Camp Sibert see above, Chapter VI. 

The Story of Omp Sibert Training Center of the Chemical Warfare Service (to 3x March 1944). (Hereafter cited as The Story of Camp Sibert), p. ty. Prepared by Historical Branch OC CWS. 

Camp Sibert was built for one purpose only to facilitate the training of chemical troops. Gradually the ranges, exercise areas, and maneuver fields needed to attain this end were developed, although the training phase of the Army s mobilization had passed its peak before all of them were in use. After the activation of the CWS Unit Training Center at Camp Sibert in... 

In an introduction to a wartime account of training activities at Camp Sibert, the commanding general (Shekerjian) wrote ... 

A variation of the standard RTC course to meet Army Air Force requirements for chemical warfare replacements was undertaken in December 1942. Under a procedure developed at that time, sixty-five AAF trainees were shipped to the CWS RTC every two weeks, after completion of four weeks of basic Air Force training. Upon arrival, they entered the fifth week of instruction under MTP 3-3 at Camp Sibert, completing the course nine weeks later. They were then given four weeks of specialized instruction in the functions of either a chemical noncommissioned officer (SSN 870), a decontaminating equipment operator (SSN 809), or a toxic gas handler (SSN 786). This program was continued throughout 1943. When terminated on 31 January 1944, it had produced 1,450 enlisted men technically trained for duty with various chemical activities of the AAF. 

The administration of CWS officer pools was complicated by the fact that the excessively populated pools were located in fifteen different places in the zone of interior. The maintenance of a centralized and uniform control of these groups presented serious difficulties which never were fully resolved. At Camp Sibert the operation of the local pool became a responsibility of the Unit Training Center. Some effort was made to centralize the administration of all pools from Sibert, although this scheme was later dropped and the co-ordination of pool activities was resumed by the office of the Chief, CWS. In these matters, both Personnel and Training Divisions were concerned. The responsibility of each organization was clear-cut Per-... 

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