Chemical Decontamination Companies

M17 Lightweight Decontamination System (LDS) The M17 is a portable pump and water-heating unit for producing hot water and steam. The system incorporates a 1,580-gallon collapsible water tank, two wand assemblies, connecting hoses, and a shower rail. It is issued to Army battalion-size units and to chemical decontamination companies and battalions. 

March the 41st Chemical Laboratory Company, the fid Chemical Composite Company, the remainder of the 21st Chemical Decontamination Company, and the fid and fyd Chemical Processing Companies in May and the 24th and 2jth Chemical Decontamination Companies in June 194. See Brophy and Fisher, Organizing for War, app. H, and see below, ch. VII. 

The 1st Platoon, 30th Chemical Decontamination Company, under the command of ist Lt. Bernard Miller, landed on Omaha Beach at H plus sixteen minutes. The platoon fought its way ashore with the first wave, providing grenade smoke screens to conceal infantry landings. Lieutenant Miller and six enlisted men were wounded or missing... 

The 21 St Chemical Decontamination Company was one of the most active of those whose overseas service lay principally in the CWS mission area. The 21st, activated at Camp Bowie, Tex., In March 1942,... 

The overseas experience of the 31st Chemical Decontamination Company was in decided contrast to that of the 21st. Both gained... 

Also arriving in June were the 24th and 25th Chemical Decontamination Companies, in the theater as insurance against the introduction of gas by the enemy but well trained in the smoke mission. 

The 33d Chemical Decontamination Company landed on Utah Beach on D-day with the multiple mission of decontamination reconnaissance, smoke, and CWS supply. Although by that afternoon the unit was prepared to provide smoke on call from VII Corps, the German Air Force failed to appear in strength and the need for smoke never materialized. As a consequence, the 33d s main mission became that of supply the CWS dump maintained by the unit handled over... 

These were the 67th and 68th Chemical Smoke Generator Companies, the 27th Chemical Decontamination Company, and the 95 th Chemical Composite Company. 

There were few Negro troops in the Army in the peacetime period, and prior to 1940 the number of Negro units provided for in the Protective Mobilization Plan (PMP) was decidedly limited. No provision was made for any Negro chemical units. In the summer of 1940 the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, recommended modification of the PMP in order to provide more Negro units. The CWS initially felt the effects of the new policy when the ist Chemical Decontamination Company, constituted as a white company in the PMP, was activated on i August 1940 at Fort Eustis, Virginia, as a Negro unit. ... 

From the spring of 1942 until the summer of 1943 seventy-five CWS troop units composed of Negroes were activated at various installations throughout the country. The seventy-five units consisted of the following 12 chemical mairitenance companies (aviation), 7 chemical depot companies (aviation), i chemical company (air operations), 20 chemical decontamination companies, 3 chemical processing companies, 30 chemical smoke generator companies, and 2 chemical service companies. Forty-one of those companies were eventually assigned to duty overseas. ... 

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