Munitions Corps

Munitions Command essentially a combination of the Ordnance Special Weapons — Ammunition Command and Chemical Corps... 

Aerosol Detonating Fuze for a Fuel-Air Explosive Munition , AFATL-TR-73-31, Contract, F08635-72-C-0213, Beech Aircraft Corp, Boulder (1973) 7) H.W. Brown Jr, Development... 

Although this insightful letter deals with lethal agents sueh as VX, it applies equally to ineapaeitating agents. It is true that in 1964, the Chemieal Corps standardized BZ as a weapon. To my knowledge, it has not been used in any major eombat situation. We have now destroyed our stoekpiled munitions, leaving the waters to elose over more than a deeade of researeh, and millions of dollars. 

Milly, G. H. "Atmospheric diffusion and generalized munition expenditures." ORG Study NR17, U. S. Army Chemical Corps, Operations Research Group, Army Chemical Center, MD, 1958. 

Perdit (Perdite). Ger perchlorate expls of varying compn, introduced during WWI as replacements for the Corps of Engineers Explosive (Pioneer-munition), Donarit (see Vol 5, D1531). A compn contg K perchlorate 56, DNB 32 and DNN 12% was used in trench mortar shells and mines. Stettbacher (Ref 2) referred to it as Deutscher Geissbarer Minensprengstoffe (Ger castable mine expl)... 

FIGURE 1.7 German Tabun bombs discovered after the defeat of Germany in 1945 Office of the Chief of Chemical Corps (1947), The History of Captured Enemy Toxic Munitions in the American Zone European Theater, May 1945 to June 1947. 

En adaptant les demonstrations donnees dans J.P.SERRE, Groupes algebriques et corps de classe, chap. VII, on munit Exta (G,A) d u-ne structure naturelle de groupe abelien. fonctorielle en A et G. ... 

Napalm, A coprecipitated aluminum soap from naphthenic acids and the fatty adds of coconut oil devdoped early in 1942 (Fieser. Harris, Hershberg, Morgana, Novdlo, Putnam) for prepn of gasoline gels for incendiary munitions U.S. pats. 2,606,107 (1952) Herron, U.S. pat. 2,684,339 (1954 to Safety Fuel Chem. Corp ). The name was derived from the naphthenic and palmitic acids which are its major constituents. Structure and mfg problems Chem. Historical account L. F. Fieser, The Scientific Method (Rdnhold, New York, 1964) Bruce, Chemical Warfare—Flame in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (Interscience, New York, 1964) p 888. 

Eventually, the War Department also began to plan for chemical warfare. The Medical Department was assigned responsibility for chemical defense and the Ordnance Department responsibility for chemical munitions. The Corps of Engineers was designated to provide engineers to employ the new weapons. This diversified arrangement did not last long. 

In another example, the State of Maryland has a public park that was formerly a Civil War fort. At a meeting with the U.S. Park Service, which owns the site, the Corps of Engineers representative stated that the military found a map (sketch) showing munitions burial pits in a line. A geophysical survey confirmed the presence of ferrous metal anomalies compatible with the map. The State of Maryland has been trying to get a copy of that map for over a year at last report. Apparently, the sketch has been so closely held by Huntsville that it was never made part of the FUDS file at the Corps of Engineers. Moreover, the existence of some information regarding munitions burials must exist or Huntsville would not have flown a UXO technician with a metal detector to the site in the first place. 

The District of Columbia listed 124 structures as POI and an additional 39 trench works were listed by the Corps of Engineers. Obviously, these trenches would have been an easy place to bury chemical munitions and contaminated glassware. A memorandum dated December 4, 1918, states. 

Lastly, the District underscores that this site represents the first site in which the Corps of Engineers conducted a removal action where residents live on top of an old chemical munitions range. This lack of experience with populated sites, or any CWM sites, may account for the divergence of views. In conclusion, the presence of 13,000 people on the site demands the complete and thorough analysis recommended here. 

In 1996, the District of Columbia vigorously attacked the Army Corps of Engineer s conclusion of no further action in that same Final Report on the World War I Poison Gas Production at the AUES. Since then, the District s main contentions— that there were significant quantities of munitions, chemical glassware, and arsenic contamination remaining— have been proven to be 100 percent correct. 

Throughout many reports and speeches, the Corps has maintained that there were only small quantities of munitions and chemicals on hand. However, numerous documents belie that position. First, a memorandum states that 50 tons a day of supplies came in by rail to AUES. Second, Capt. Lewis said that a still was set up to make Lewisite in semi-large scale quantities. Third, a ton of butyl mercaptan (the odor in skunks) exploded, leading to the name Skunk Hill. Fourth, documents state the weekly production of some compounds. Fifth, a narrow-gauge railroad was constructed and used to move heavy stills. 

The District of Columbia Department of Health, Environmental Health Administration received information from a resident of Spring Valley consisting of, among other things, a February 25, 1993, memorandum of a phone call from one Ian MacFee to the Mayor s Office of Constituent Services alleging that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) buried munitions in 14 pits at the AUES. 

The District of Columbia had a legal duty to investigate credible eyewitness evidence of a munitions burial in the District. Also, under the District/ Defense Memorandum of Agreement (DDMOA), the District has the right to review and comment on documents submitted by the Corps of Engineers in response to a request by the District. The District of Columbia also has oversight responsibility to review no further action decisions by the Corps. 

In either case, the District of Columbia requested that the Corps of Engineers or the EPA fund fiarther geophysical examination, soil gas, groundwater, or other sampling of the C O Canal for potential sites. If munitions are confirmed, the Corps of Engineers must excavate the sites. 

District of Columbia s Draft Comments on the Corps of Engineers letter dated March 20, 1995, detailing its Investigation into the Reported Munitions Burial by the Civilian Conservation Corps at Spring Valley ... 

The Corps had found a list of 4300 munitions that were left when the AUES closed. Many of the munitions that have been excavated to date are different than those on the list. Nevertheless, the munitions found by Woods are compatible with those on the list. It is possible that these were moved via the narrow-gauge railway to the Dalecarlia property and stacked. Fifteen years later, CCC laborers became available and the munitions could be buried. The ones that Woods found may have been the bottom of one of those stacks, which settled into the dirt from the weight of those on top. 

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