Chemical Warfare Service established

The Chemical Corps originally established the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) in 1918, motivated by the horrors of gas warfare that they witnessed during WW I. In 1922, it created a Medical Research Division. Its mission was to defend against chemical agents. 

Human experimentation appears to have been an integral part of the history of the U.S. Army chemical warfare (CW) research efforts until its suspension in 1975. On June 28, 1918, the President directed the establishment of the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS). 

The Gas Service was enlarged to meet the demands of its many responsibilities whenever men and equipment became available. For example, a completely staffed and equipped laboratory arrived in France early in 1918 and an officers training camp was organized in France later in the year. The provision of a laboratory had been one of the projects of the Office of Gas Service since the time of its organization in the United States in October 1917. The increasing demands on the service resulted in the reorganization of Fries s immediate office in March 1918 to combine offense and defense into a Military Division and to establish a Technical and a Production and Supply Division. In May the Military Division was again separated into Offense and Defense Divisions. Finally, in June, the Gas Service in the United States was converted into the Chemical Warfare Service, National Army. The Gas Service, AEF, became the CWS AEF, officially the... 

As indicated earlier, the War Department set up a co-ordinating agency known as the Office of Gas Service in October 1917. This clearinghouse for chemical matters consisted of a director and representatives from the Ordnance and Medical Departments and from the Chemical Service Section of the National Army—a section established at the same time as the Gas Service with a principal mission of providing the AEF with a chemical laboratory. In February 1918 the Chemical Warfare Service and the Gas Division were joined in a move that failed to provide the administrative centralization and the prestige that could only come from the formation of an independent gas corps. This final step was taken bn 28 June 1918 with the creation of the Chemical Warfare Service, National Army, with Maj. Gen. William L. Sibert as director. 

The CWS in SWPA was not yet aware, at the end of June, of the War Department supply policy they had heard nothing at all from the United States in the first four months after the establishment of the USAFIA and were to have no word from the Office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare Service, until July. The basic War Department plan was dated 22 January 1942, and the specific plan for the forces in Australia was dated 2 February 1942. The specific War Department plan called for 90 days supply of all classes other than ammunition, computed on the standard tables of basic allowances (TBA) 90 days supply of ground ammunition, computed on the basis of a special ammunition day of supply for weapons in the theater and five months supply of aerial bombs, ammunition, and pyrotechnics, computed according to a special allowance per aircraft in Australia and the Netherlands East Indies. The Adjutant General instructed the technical services in the United States to compute allowances and set up shipments to the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, which was charged with shipment to the theater. The chiefs of the technical services were also charged with allotting funds to the theater for the operation of their services in the theater and for the local procurement of materiel. ... 

The War Department general order establishing the Chemical Warfare Service had provided that it would continue until six months after the termination of hostilities or until the general order itself was amended, modified, or rescinded. An act of Congress of ii July 1919 extended the life of the CWS until 30 June 1920. On 28 November 1919 the War Department defined the CWS peacetime mission as follows ... 

Announcement of the creation of the Chemical Warfare Service in 1920 as a branch of the permanent Military Establishment presumably settled an issue that had been discussed heatedly and at length. Actually, debate over functions of the CWS was to continue for many years. This perennial controversy had its roots in two spheres. One was the policy of the United States on gas warfare. The other was the reaction within the War Department itself to gas warfare. 

This action clarified a question that had been of paramount concern to the Chemical Warfare Service for half a dozen years and which was seriously impeding training on the eve of the war. That the decision of the Chief of Staff was well taken is evident from the battle record established by this weapon in firing high explosive and smoke shells. The incident affords an interesting example of the willingness of General Marshall to hear the presentation of the chief of an Army service and on occasion to overrule staff action. 

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