United States Army Chemical Corps

William H. Summerson, a worker in the field of biochemistry with a Ph.D. from Cornell, has had a long career of college teaching and research in the area of biochemistry. He also had a distinguished career in the Biochemistry Division of the Army Chemical Corps and with the Office of Scientific Research and Development during the war. He is at present the Acting Deputy Commander for Scientific Activities of the Research and Development Command, United States Army Chemical Corps. 

United States Army Chemical Corps Historical Office Hexamethylenetetramine, a compound effective against phosgene poisoning... 

Thiokol Chemical Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama. This work was supported by the United States Army Ordnance Corp. Contract DA-01-02I-ORD-5314, Mod. 3. 

Acrylates are not new as soil treatment agents. As early as the mid 1950s, calcium acrylate was researched by the United States Army Corps of Engineers [20], and detailed data on acrylate was available in chemical publications [21]. 

The gradual transition of area screening from theory to practice was observed with interest in the United States. The Chemical Warfare Service carefully surveyed the development of European equipment and screening techniques and, with the Army Air Corps and other Army elements, investigated the problems which would accompany the development of large area screening. 

Chemical mortar units already with Sixth Army were the 98th and the 8yth Battalions. The former, having participated in the Wakde and Biak fighting, had entered a period of rest and rehabilitation. The 8yth Chemical Mortar Battalion, a recent arrival from the United States, supported X Corps in the Leyte operation, specifically the ist Cavalry and 24th Infantry Divisions. 

The CWS technical reports, along with many evaluations of munitions and plans, both for the United States and its Allies, were deposited in the Technical Library, Army Chemical Center, Md., and have been identified and described in From Laboratory to Fields The best World War I source, pending the preparation of an official volume on gas warfare in World War I, is the draft History of the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces. Copies of this study are available in the Technical Library and in the Office of the Historian, U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal. Finally, as regards monographs and studies, special note should be made of the excellent Marine Corps series on operations in the Pacific. Also worthy of special note is the American Forces in Action series, which has been useful although documented and more complete accounts have in most instances appeared in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. The volumes published in this series have proved invaluable, and the following have been particularly important ... 

Dr. Brooks E. Kleber received a Ph.B. degree from Dickinson College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Pennsylvania. From 19 JO to 1963 he served as historian with the U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Office. In January 1963 Dr. Kleber was appointed Chief Historian, United States Continental Army Command. 

There are several published volumes which discuss the origin and activities of the Chemical Warfare Service in World Wat I. These include Benedict Crowell, America s Munitions, i ij-i iS (Washington GPO, 1919) Amos A. Fries and Clarence J. West, Chemical Warfare (New York McGraw Hill, 1921) and Medical Aspects of Gas Warfare, Volume XIV of the series MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR (Washington GPO, 1926). Volumes XV and XVI of the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE WORLD WAR (Washington GPO, 1948), prepared by the Historical Division, Special Staff United States Army, contain data on the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). More valuable as a source of information is the official history of the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces, a copy of which is on file in the Chemical Corps Historical Office. Especially useful in this history are the appendixes which ate copies of pertinent directives. On the organizational development of the Chemical Warfare Service in the zone of interior, the most fmitful sources of information are M. T. Bogert s and W. H. Walker s History of the Chemical Service Section, on file at the Technical Library, Army Chemical Center, Maryland, and the annual reports of the CWS for the years 1918, 1919, and 1920. The retired CWS files in the National Archives contain some important documents. 

Samuel Milner, Victory in Papua, UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington, 1957), p. 250. (2) Lt Col Leonard L. McKinney, Portable Flame Thrower Operations in World War II, Chemical Corps Historical Studies No. 4, 1 Dec 49, p. 58,... 

By LioNEii A. Walpobd and Chables G. Wilbeb, Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. and Chemical Corps Medical Laboratories, Army Chemical Center, Md. 

Summary of Major Events and Problems, United States Chemical Corps, Fiscal Year 1959 (Army Chemical Center, Maryland, January i960.) 3 2 — This was code-named Project Screw worm . 

In 1976, the secretary of the army reversed the decision to abolish the Chemical Corps. He cited the heightened awareness of the Soviet Union s capability to wage chemical warfare as the primary reason. In 1977, the United States started a new effort to reach an agreement with the Soviets on a verifiable ban on chemical weapons. This effort was unsuccessful. Partly as a result, the Chemical School was reestablished at Fort McClellan in 19 7 9.167 177-181... 

Cochrane RC. Biological Warfare Research in the United States. Vol 2. In History of the Chemical Warfare Service in World War II. Historical Section, Plans, Training and Intelligence Division, Office of Chief, Chemical Corps, US Department of the Army 1947. Unclassified. 

Copthorne was the only CWS Regular Army officer in SWPA, not only at the time of organization but also for another year. A Military Academy graduate, he was j2 years of age at the time and had seen service in World War I but not overseas. He had a variety of chemical experience, including a tour as Philippine Department chemical officer, a tour as a corps area chemical officer in the United States, and had most recently been an instructor at the Army s Command and General Staff School. ... 

In the spring of 1918 separate proposals were made both in the United States and in France to establish a gas corps. On 17 April Lt. Col. Marston T. Bogert, who had succeeded Colonel Walker as chief of the Chemical Service Section, recommended to the Chief of Staff that the section be replaced by a "chemical corps which would be on a "basis more nearly like that occupied by the Engineering and Medical branches of the Army. ... 

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