The end of an era for one of the world’s most dangerous weapons of war came just days ago at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. At a June 22nd news conference, workers at the Pueblo operation completed the mission of eliminating the last of 730,000 rounds of hydrolysate, more commonly known as mustard gas, a chemical with a long and sordid history.
The Pueblo Chemical Depot, formerly known as the Pueblo Army Depot, had been the nation’s storage site for the chemical agent since the early 1940s. The agent had stood, guarded and undisturbed, until 2015 when the operation to destroy it began. The “main plant operations with the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction began Sept. 7, 2016,” said spokesperson Sandra Romero. To date, “We have destroyed 2,611 tons of mustard agent.”
The history of chemical weapons in warfare goes back to the late 19th Century, though the power to kill or severely injure using them was already widely known. As a result, these weapons were banned at the 1899 Hague Convention. The ban, however, had little effect and in World War 1, the German army deployed them aiming tons of chlorine gas—an estimated 5,700 cylinders—at British troops. It would be the first significant use of chemicals in warfare but not the last.
A British officer described the real time horror he witnessed as his troops advanced through the fog of chlorine gas. He said he saw a cloud of chlorine settle on the battlefield. Without gas masks and only cloth to cover mouths and noses, the gas was inhaled. “You immediately began to choke,” he wrote. The weapon, so contrary to the rules of war, was just the start. The next move belonged to the British who began work on their own version of chemical weapons.
They developed their own arsenal, first phosgene—an agent six times more deadly than chlorine—and then mustard gas. (The term ‘mustard’ was adopted because of the color of the gas in the air and because it was said to smell of mustard.)
The legacy of mustard gas is tragic. If inhaled, it killed within days by filling the lungs with fluid causing suffocation. It also blistered and burned the skin on contact. It could also cause blindness. First generation gas masks often let the agent seep in where it would be inhaled. One of its victims was a young Adolph Hitler who was made temporarily blind by the gas.
At a ceremonial news conference announcing ‘mission accomplished,’ PCD Plant Manager Kim Jackson acknowledged the workers. “I saw firsthand the innovative thinking, exceptional teamwork and out- standing work ethic from employees,” said Jackson. “It’s a testament to them that we are in a position to showcase to the world Colorado’s eradication of the munitions stockpile.”
“We have fulfilled Colorado’s commitment to the nation and international community,” said mission’s supervisor, Walton Levi said at the news conference. With the work of destroying this deadly stockpile now over, the mission of the Pueblo Chemical Depot is not. Next, decommissioning and decontaminating the equipment used in this operation begins. It is estimated that the next phase of this undertaking will be complete in 2025.
When the mission is complete, said Romero, “We expect to keep most of our 1,500 employees,” but layoffs for an estimated 50 workers will begin “in the next couple of weeks.”
Despite the U.S. supply of this deadly agent now gone, it is still part of the weapons of war in other parts of the world and in other conflicts. Saddam Hussein is said to have used it to kill as many as 5,000 of his own people in 1988. CNN reported that it may have also been used in the Gulf War against U.S. troops.
When the Gulf War ended, the U.N. sanctioned Iraq for its use while adopting the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty prohibiting the use of all chemical weapons. The treaty did not contain the signatures of several countries including Egypt, North Korea and Iraq.
