Deadly 1944 blast shows potential for disaster at depot

This story was published Sun, Aug 8, 2004

By the Herald staff

The potential for an accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot is not just theoretical.

In March 1944, a massive explosion of a bunker full of conventional bombs at the depot leveled a concrete igloo, reducing it to ash and shattering windows as far away as Pendleton.

Five men and one woman were killed in a blast so violent the only trace of remains was the woman's torso.

The recollection of that event 50 years ago remains vivid to Fay Moses, 81.

"When it went off, I jumped up and screamed. The entire house shook," she said.

Moses said she knew immediately the blast came from the depot.

The Army wants to avoid a repeat of that disaster and is making every effort to ensure the aging weapons stockpile is disposed of safely. But Moses knows first hand what can go wrong.

She had gone to work at the munitions plant straight out of high school and worked there off and on until she retired in the early 1980s.

Moses said chatter around the depot's water coolers didn't change much over the years. The dangers posed by long-term storage of chemical munitions have long been a topic of concern.

"Thirty years ago, they were talking about what they'd do with the depot once the nerve agent is gone," Moses said. "That's how long they've been working to get rid of this damn stuff."

When the bombs exploded at Umatilla in 1944, there were no pallets of deadly nerve agents in the concrete bunkers. Until 1964, Umatilla only had caches of conventional weapons.

But during the Cold War, Russia and the United States raced to see who could produce the most chemical weaponry. Russia led the world, amassing 40,000 tons of deadly chemical munitions. The United States came in a close second, with nearly 32,000 tons.

 

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