Eastern Chemical Warfare Depot

Originally the depots located at CWS arsenals had the same name as the arsenals, which led to confusion in the mails. In July 1943, therefore, the names of those depots were changed as follows Edgewood Chemical Warfare Depot to Eastern Chemical Warfare Depot, Huntsville Chemical Warfare Depot to Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot, and Pine Bluff Chemical Warfare Depot to Midwest Chemical Warfare Depot. The latter two depots were under the jurisdiction of the commanding officers of the arsenals to which they were attached. While not officially designated as a depot, a storage area at Rocky Mountain Arsenal was used to store items not shipped immediately to ports of embarkation. 

Not all of the bombs, however, remained in storage. On 24 Febmary 1942, the Eastern Chemical Warfare Depot at Edgewood Arsenal received orders to ship forty-eight 500-pound clusters of AN-M54 bombs to Benicia Arsenal, California, for reissue to Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle. The men who filled the order and handled the clusters had no idea of their ultimate destination. Shortly after noon on April 18 a B-25 bomber commanded by Doolittle roared over Tokyo and unloaded some of these... 

George W. Scaggs, History of the Eastern Chemical Warfare Depot (formerly Edge-wood Depot), p. 99. (2) Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, eds. "The Army Air Forces in World War II, vol. I, Plans and Early Operations (Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1948), pp. 438-44. 

Scaggs, History of Eastern Chemical Warfare Depot, pp. 21 and 173. 

The administration of the Eastern, Gulf, and Midwest Depots had one characteristic in common in each case housekeeping functions were performed by an adjoining installation. In the case of the Eastern Depot the Chemical Warfare Center took care of those functions, while the Gulf and Midwest housekeeping functions were handled by Huntsville and Pine Bluff Arsenals respectively. In contrast to those three depots the other three —Deseret, Northeast, and Indianapolis—were responsible for their own housekeeping activities. In the CWS sections of general depots the Quartermaster Corps had responsibility. 

There was no standard organization for administering personnel activities in the depots. Certain depots had no personnel units. The personnel activities of the Gulf Depot, for example, were administered by Huntsville Arsenal. The Eastern Depot had a personnel division until September 1942, when its functions were taken over by the personnel division of the Chemical Warfare Center. The other CWS depots each had personnel units. 

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