Camp Leach, formerly known as the American University Experimental Station and Camp American University, was a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

era

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

camp built by the Corps of Engineers on

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

property in Washington, D.C. It was named in honor of Colonel Smith S. Leach, Corps of Engineers. The camp was established in 1917 for the organization of engineer units and subsequently used by the

Chemical Warfare Service The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against and using chemical weapon, chemical, biological agent, biological, radiological weapon, radiological, and nuclear weapon, nuclear (Chemical, biological, r ...

. Abandoned in January 1919, it was ordered salvaged.

History

During World War I, American University allowed the United States Army to use part of its campus for weapons development and testing. In 1917, 24 days after the U.S. declared war on

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the school offered its property to the war effort. The military activities at American University (i.e. Chemical warfare experiment station; Pharmacological Research Section and Pathology Section of Medical Division, Chemical Warfare Service; and Camp Leach) were considered at the time to be "the largest laboratory this side of the sun or other burning stars." Thus, American University became the birthplace of the United States' chemical weapons program. About 100,000 soldiers and 2,000 chemists were employed on campus. What is now Spring Valley was an undeveloped area on campus where the Army was allowed to use for testing chemical weapons, such as mustard gas. At the far corner of American University, the United States Army also tested some of its weapons. When the war ended it was reported that $800,000 (in 1918- dollars) worth of World War I munitions were buried in a pit in the same corner of the university.

Environmental impact

In 1993, during excavations of a utility trench, construction workers found

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

, and scientists found high levels of

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

in the soil. The next day it was reported in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' that World War I bomb shells had been unearthed near a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

's house bordering the campus. This touched off a cleanup effort by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers who called it the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site. This cleanup lasted nearly two years. In 2003 many more dangerous sites in the area were uncovered, including perchlorate in groundwater and three burial pits on grounds of the South Korean ambassador's residence. In 2005 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry issued a "Health Consultation"' and two years later

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

was contracted for a health study. The site, which included a corner of American University and several neighboring residences, including the residence of the Embassy of South Korea, which occupies a significant percentage of the site. As no buildings have been built directly atop the site, the Corps of Engineers announced that the effects of neither the residual chemicals nor the cleanup program will have any effects on the students.

History

Environmental impact

See also

References

Further reading