Chemical Warfare Service Officers

Harry R. Lebkicher, Col. Raymond L. Abel, Lt. Col John L. Miles. 

Still another problem of expanding procurement activities was plant protection. The Federal Bureau of Investigation inspected all War Department and contractors facilities until the spring of 1941, when the function was transferred to the War Department itself On 12 May the Under Secretary of War notified the Chief, CWS, of the change and outlined the activities to be carried out. He stressed the safety features of plant protection as well as the need for guarding against sabotage and directed that plant protection units be set up in the Office of the Chief and in the procurement districts. In conformity with this directive, the Chief, CWS, activated a plant protection unit in his office in May 1S 41 and instruaed the chiefs of the districts to do likewise.  

One of the greatest difficulties of the period was meeting the need for trained inspectors. In the peacetime years all CWS inspection was carried on at Edgewood Arsenal under the supervision of the Inspection, Safety, and Proof Division. Inspection was on a 100 percent basis that is, every major component was inspected on the manufaemring line and later each finished end item was inspected. In addition to the inspection of items being 

USW for C CWS, 11 Jun 41, sub Conservation of Certain Basic and Semi-Finished Materials. CWS 381.388. 

OC CWS Organ Chart, 20 Aug 41. Capt. Alexander Leggin, a CWS Reserve officer, headed this section. 

---

Office, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service Office of Civilian Defence Office of Chief of Engineers Washington 25, DC Owens-Coming Fiberglass Coip Office, Chief of Ordnance Dept of the Army Washington 25, DC OCO-Aromunition Branch octane number Amet ezpl(classified)... 

Enlisted men lived in a camp of tents just outside the town, and an army field kitchen served meals to them. Chemical Warfare Service officers rented housing in town, as did the civilian NDRC workers. Second Lieutenant Alan Englander and I rented an old house in Bushnell, which had a hall down the middle, four rooms, and a large enclosed back porch. It did not have a shower, but it had an old fashioned bathtub moimted on four legs. The house had a large number of cockroaches. 

The CWS protective mobilization plan contemplated that training of other components at the Chemical Warfare School would be discontinued upon mobilization, when the school would reorganize for its primary mission of training CWS troops. Two types of courses were specified in the new setup successive thirty-day refresher classes of seventy-five officers, and a series of classes for enlisted specialists (meteorologists). This program would have proven inadequate, even had it been followed. Yet there was no evident inclination in 1940 to extend the school training of CWS officers. In recommending to the War Department the courses to be conducted at the school between i July 1940 and 30 June 1941, the CWS proposed only six courses, none of them specifically for preparation of Chemical Warfare Service officers for active duty. ... 

Chart 11—Chemical Warfare Service Officer Strength and OCS Graduations May 1940-July 1945... 

Brophy, Leo P, Wyndham D. Miles, and Rexmond C. Cohrane. The Chemical Warfare Service From Laboratory to Field. Washington, DC Government Printing Office, 1968, pp. 55-61. 

Explosives , US Chemical Warfare Service Field Lab Memo 4-6-2 (1944), US Office of Technical Services PB Report 11544 5a) Lt Col... 

Refs 1)F.R.Benson, "Study Properties of RDX Composition C-2 , PATR 1293 (1943) 2)F.R. Benson, "Suitability of Composition C-3 as a Plastic Explosive," PATR 1416 (1944) 3)Anon "Data on Foreign Explosives", US Chemical Warfare Service Field Lab Memo 4-6-2, US Office of Technical Services PB Report 11544 (1944) 4)L.H.Eriksen, "Effect of Storage on the Sensitivity of Compositions C, C-2, C-3 and PEP-2D" PATR 1518 (1945) 5)A11 En Expls (1946), 125-28 6)Anonymous, Ordn 30, 102 (1946) 7)S. Fleischnick, "Evaluation of Explosives Based on Shell Fragmentation," PATR 1595 (1946)... 

OCCWS Office, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service... 

Office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare Service, New Gas Detector Kit, Washington DC CWS (12 September 1944), Information. 

Brophy, L.P. and Fisher, G.J.B., The Chemical Warfare Service From Lab to Field, Washington DC Office of the Chief of Military History (1959). 

ECAO-CIN-538. Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Cincinnati, OH. Warden, E.L. 1941. Lewisite (M-1) 1940 Summary of physiologic and toxicologic data. Report. No. EATR 285. Chemical Warfare Service, Edgewood Arsenal, MD (ADB959553L). 

The professor left. The Captain was a big but not fat man, about forty years old, and he spoke in a formal manner. Mr. Johnston, he said, I am a medical officer in the Chemical Warfare Service. Questions have been raised in connection with your application for SECRET clearance and concerning your suitability to work safely on Dickinson s project. I am here to interview you concerning these and other questions. I was shocked at the idea that I might not be able to work safely in Dickinson s laboratory. 

An old-time elderly army Major, whose name I have forgotten, had a desk next to Nolen s office. He had been in the chemical warfare service since World War I. His presence made for a delicate situation. The Major outranked the Captain, who was in command of the operation. When Nolen spoke with him, Nolen said the word sir at least once in every sentence. Within limits, Nolen let the Major do what he wanted to do. 

Chemical Warfare Service. (1939). The Story of Chemical Warfare. Office of the Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, Washington, DC. p. 1. 

Kleber, B.E. and Birdsell, D. 1959. The Chemical Warfare Service Chemicals in Combat. Washington, DC Office of the Chief Military History, Department of the Army. 

The US Government responded more radically than had the British Government when American troops suffered badly from chemical attacks during the early days after their entry into WWI. A Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) was setup and with eventually 4873 men under the command of 210 officers, formed a force more committed to chemical warfare than any in the British Army. At the end of WWI, the CWS was markedly reduced and all but abolished however, a vigorous and effective propaganda campaign ensured its survival. Articles published in chemical journals extolled the efforts of the CWS and one editorial closed ... 

Cochrane RC. Research and Development. Vol 2. In History of the Chemical Warfare Service in World War II. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md Chemical Corps Historical Office 1947 245-246, 248-249. Draft. 

---