Evening star., 1946-09-05
May Notifies
Mead He Is Able
To Testify Now
Committee Bo!ks at
Generating Gorssons
On Faulty Shells

Representative May, Democrat,
of Kentucky notified the Senate
War Investigating Committee
today that he is willing to be
questioned Immediately at his
Prestonsburg tKyD home on his
association with the Carson
munitions combine.
He wrote to Chairman Mead that
the present condition of his health
would permit him to receive sub
committee at once sin Kentucky or
that he would appear before the
full committee in Washington later
las determined by my physician
The Senate committee staff was
awaiting the return of Senator
Mead from Albany before deciding
what course to follow in hearing
Mr.. May. Meanwhile, the committee
disagreed with the War Depart.
ment on publication of a 2,000-page
report which, according to- the
Chemical Warfare Service, clears
the Carson companies of all re-
Sponsibility for defective AZ shells
that killed and wounded American
| soldiers.
Francis D. Flanagan, assistant
counsel of the committee, declared,
I'VE certainly couldn't make any
statement like that until we get all
the facts He announced that the
committee would not release its
copy of the report until hearings
are held on the general subject,
probably late this month.
Imperfect Fuses Blamed.
The War Department, however,
made public today the official re-
port it submitted recently to the
Senate committee and announced
that imperfect fuses, not faulty shell
bodies, caused premature A. mortar
shell explosions which killed SO
soldiers and wounded 127. mostly
during the Battle of the Bulge.
! Carson companies made shell
bodies but not fuses, according to
the report prepared by Maj. Gen.
Alden H. Watt, chief of the Chem
ical Warfare Service Only So OF
these shells exploded prematurely
in approximately 100000 rounds of
fire, the report declared.
!! Mr.. Flanagan said War Depart
ment publication of the report does
not change the committees decision
to withhold it until the hearings.
He declared the committee has made
no official expression or any alle-
, CATION" about the Carson COM
! panies in connection with defective
shell manufacture.
FBI Probed Workers.
: In disclosing tine names of four
principal companies that made fuses
for the shells the War Department
report revealed that the FBI once
investigated employees of the con-
Germs at the request of the Chemical
Warfare Service, but found nothing
to indicate sabotage.
The companies were the William
Fencil Co, Huntley, ILL.,; Milwaukee
Stamping Co., Casco Products Corp,
Bridgeport, Conn, and National
Fireworks Co., West Hanover, Mass,
a subsidiary of Casco. Investigations
revealed that Casco and its subsid-
iary were responsible for dispro-
portionate share of the muzzle
bursts.
The report stated that corrective
measures were taken Immediately
after fuses were found to be de-
fective In 80 instances rounds ex-
{ yHIn in, he 40 lie of yt1fa Y1d
these were found to have mall
functions.
! The rate of such explosions was
mot excessive" the report held. Fail
ures were attributable primarily to
causes inherent in programs Of
this order of magnitude of danger,
as we'll as to human frailties."
Four Specific FauIts.
) Technical investigations showed
. that the prematures resulted from
/ defects of fuses and not the body of
, the she'll" the report declared.
, They further traced the probable
cause of prematures to four specific
faults. These faults were corrected
; expeditiously."
The facts presented in the report
lead to the following conclusions,
: it stated
81. That the AZ chemical mortar
ammunition from its inception,
through the stages of design, de-
velopment, manufacture, inspection.
has been safeguarded to an extreme
degree to insure that 1t became an
efficient, effective and safe instru-
ment of war.
%. Despite all the safeguards
established, serious accidents did
, occur and number of fatalities
and injuries resulted to our own
(See WAR PROFITS, Page A-6)