In the Cold War era the U.S. Army’s experiments exposed soldiers and some U.S. Air Force personnel to incapacitating agents, such as nerve agents, nerve agent antidotes, and psychochemicals, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Information, particularly names of participants, for both the Army and Navy’s mustard agent tests is limited.

 

 

Ft. Benning, GA

• US soldiers performed war games under the influence of LSD in the late 1950s.
• Classified medical research program. ⁷

 

Ft. Bragg, NC

• US soldiers were given LSD and told to perform tank drills and other military maneuvers in the late 1950s.
• Classified medical research program. ⁷

 

Camp Bullis, TX

• Soldiers were exposed  to mustard gas in field exercises. ³
• Chemical Material Program Survey and Analysis Report. ⁶

 

Bushnell Field, FL

• Mustard gas ¹

 

Ft. Detrick, MD

• 2,300 volunteer servicemen from 1954 to 1973 were infected by a host of  exotic diseases such as Q fever, yellow fever, anthrax, tularemia, black plague and rabbit fever. ⁴

 

Dugway Proving Ground, UT

• Field tests conducted with BZ in the early 1960s; a BZ accident later sent several soldiers to the hospital.
• Mustard gas. ¹  Also see dbase page 87.
• CS tests conducted on 2nd Chemical Battalion volunteers. ³
• Q fever - in 1955 approximately 80 volunteers were infected by open-air exposure and flown to Fort Detrick for tests and observation. ⁵
• Chemical Material Program Survey and Analysis Report. ⁶
• Classified medical research program. ⁷

 

Edgewood Arsenal, MD

• Tests with the superhallucinogen BZ starting in 1959 and continuing to1975 exposed 2,800 soldiers.
• Trials with LSD, and other mind-altering also used military personnel.
• Mustard gas ¹
• Classified medical research program. ⁷

 

Great Lakes Naval Training Center, IL

• Mustard gas ²

 

Camp LeJeune, NC

• Mustard gas ¹

 

Ft. Leavenworth, KS

• The site of additional Army LSD tests.

 

Ft. McLellan, AL

• US Army instructors attempted to teach classes while under the influence of LSD in the late 1950s.
• Classified medical research program. ⁷

 

Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC

• Mustard gas ²

 

San Jose Island, Panama Canal Zone

Mustard gas. ¹ Also see Test Tube Republic.

 

Camp Sibert, AL

• Mustard gas ¹

 

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¹ An estimated 4,000 servicemen participated in tests using significant concentrations of mustard gas either in chambers or field exercises in contaminated areas during World War II. This secret testing was conducted in order to develop better protective clothing, masks and skin ointments. There is no central roster of World War II participants in either the laboratory or field tests. The Army conducted tests on Army personnel in the laboratory and in the field. The test sites included Edgewood Arsenal, Md.; Camp Sibert, Ala.; Bushnell, Fla.; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and San Jose Island, Panama Canal Zone.

² World War II military personnel from the U.S. Navy Training Center, Bainbridge, Md., also were sent to the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., to participate in tests. Gas testing facilities also were located at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois and Camp Lejeune, N.C.

³ Eye-witness accounts

⁴ Human test subjects were infected by inhaling from a face mask or were administered an injection.

⁵ Volunteers were separated into eight groups of about ten soldiers each and transported to test locations about 25 miles out on the Utah salt flat. They were made to sit in chairs situated at different levels on a high wooden platform. Around them were cages of mice, monkeys and guinea pigs. Just after midnight, when meteorological conditions were right, as the officers put on their gas masks the volunteers instinctively held their breath and the test began. A cool mist laden with the infectious Q fever virus was dispersed on the human and animal test subjects by large fans or reportedly dropped from aircraft overhead.

⁶ Locations with recovered Chemical warfare material and research, demonstration, testing, and evaluation material. Based on a U.S. Army 1993 updated data base report.

⁷ In 1952, the Army Chemical Corps began a classified medical research program for developing incapacitating agents that continued until 1975. This program involved testing chemicals, including nerve agents, nerve agent antidotes, psychochemicals, irritants, and vesicant agents. The chemicals were given to volunteer service members at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland; Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah; and Forts Benning, Bragg, and McClelan. In total, Army documents identify 7,120 Army and Air Force personnel who participated in these tests. The Army’s Medical Research and Development Command in Fort Detrick, Maryland, has the names and service numbers of al test participants and listings of the chemicals to which the service members were exposed. Report to the Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Senate

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