Show 0 THE OGDEN (UTAH) IOC STANDARD-EXAMINE- R SUNDAY MORNING ( ‘ APRIt 3 1955 r Mrs® urnI Life Span of This Area's Oldest Depot x i f Mark Transition From Ground Power ‘ ' I ! To Heavy Reliance on Jets At t retreat ceremony brief ' Thursday afternoon the Ogden Arsenal passed into the annals of military history Us passing 'marks the end of an era that joined the ioned warfare of World War I to the beginning of the atomic age But even before the bugler sounded the final notes of’ taps at its last rites a bright new fu- ture was being predicted for this UUh tarvnstallaUonsf16 “We are hoping for a mission that will fully utilize the facili- ties of the Arsenal” said Harry Kieling Hill Air Force Bssc commanderr &s he Accepted the keys to the Arsenal from Major Robert A Fuller Hill AFB officials are expect- - New Mission? old-fas- h- Col-vi- bs ing the word soon from the Air Materiel Command as to what use wl11 le made “I the addc “es provided by acquisition of the 3W acres and 100 ware' houses ’ By CLIFF THOMPSON A-Bom- sit Whether this use will be a new mission or an enlargement of a present mission is not known However recent remarks by Air Force officials have been viewed with optimism Secretary of Air Harold Talbott mentioned possible expansion and new missions for Hill during a to this aea last fall And in May Gen Edwin W Rawlings commsnder of the vsst AMC hinted at heavy responsi- bilities in the guided missile field: Gen Manning Tillery Ogden f jr a r vvjri V Air Materiel Area commander recentiy told an Ogden Chamber 0f Commerce committee that lack o spgce has restricted Hill AFB in accepting new missions Activated in 1920) the Arsenai would have been 35 years old on April 22 It has survived a flood appropriation win(jstorm meat-acuts many name changes — prac- tically everything except the ad- vancing air age The man has been forgotten who stood on the sandy flats near f Sunset under the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains almost 35 years ago and dedicated the Ar- senal The Fruits Remain But the fruits of his dedication can be found in the military in- stallations surrounding Ogden that have played such a vital role in the area’s economy The Arsenal was the base of operations when the Utah Gen- eral Depot was started Without the Arsenal Hill AFB might have been some place else Planners back in the 1930’s decided that if bombs were to be made here an air field might as well be near by At first the air field was con- sidered almost a part of the Ar- senal In fact! it was referred to at times as the Arsenal airport Construction was slow in the early 1920’s and it was not until x K " AA that the 35 magazines 1923 x A j 1 Vi I- 1 v? a V - J sf BIG BLOW BRINGS WOE — A squadron of enemy bombers couldn’t have done a much better job of flattening Ogden Arsenal than the big windstorm of 1927 Two photos above showsome of the damage ad- - ministration and utility buildings were completed Shortly after completion of these facilities the Arsenal met the first of its many adversities Lack of funds forced it on an in- active status - The staff was re-duced to a caretaking basis Sergeant Put in Command In 1925 TSgt Joseph Zaine took command He was the first enlisted man to command a major military installation in the UnitedStates Retired as a master sergeant in 1935 Zame became the first of several soldiers to make Ogden his home upon retire- - Present ceremony at Sgt Thursday s Zanre recalled last some of his experiences as com belts for machine guns was mander of the Arsenal The main features of the Ar- senal in Those days were the con- crete block magazines and the 0ld black powder plant Sgt Zaine told of the wind- storm that destroyed 30 of the 35 magazines “We were lucky it happened on a Sunday” he said “We had about 20 men painting the fence that was blown away If those men had been working Mission Changed would have been Late in 1943 the mission was somebody hurt”changed from industrial ammu- Lack of funds kept them from nition activities to storage and doing anything more than clean distribution the place up as best they could Peak activity was reached in ' May 1945 when 131718 separate “Did the Best We Could” “We did the best we could ots ° items were processed for and overseas shipment with the equipment we had” tons 01 supplies were re- Zaine recalls “Then we spent the next few years maintaining cved and 24169 tons were the Arsenal as a storage area sniPPeaIn December 1946 the Tooele When we would' get an order to becaJJ?e a 5?b' ship ammo we’d get it together 1 of the ep ?ena1' Thee r?®s and take it down to the station” 1949’ hen tbe He recalled using me a to sleighs to haul ammunition dur- - Tooele ing the winter and the never- An increase in workload in ending fight against sandstorms 1947 put the Arsenal back on a week At the peak of We Used to g0 out and paint its 5515 civilians were activity xne lences ana the next day- the on itg empioyment roles sand would have it all stripped jn any story like this which off” he said attempts to cover 35 years many And that was the way it went interesting bits of information Here are a few Sgt Zaine asked for retirement get left out in 1935 after winning 10 com- - lumped together mendations during his tour as 230 Take Exams commander five of them from 0n ®n® ®tu2SL: !n 1q41 the Inspector General In 1936 the Arsenal began the tor employment at SfAr long road of rebuilding and ex- - ®£a"?s pansion that led to a modern 1940 ArscLl a fooTish £or Producing “Myplaut bombs artillery ammunition and t“ An brick manufac- small arms for air force and turer made 4 million bricks for ground troops januar l942 Early in 1935 the Ogden Se Sfiot P Chamber of Commerce began ar-- exchance bufldine ow guing that if the need originally A national spy scare in 1938 ewsted for an Arsenal here that a ciamp on information that put need still existed jiad flowed readily to the public Funds Not Available Many of the trees on the instal- War Department officials ad-- lation were planted by boys of mitted that the need was there the CCC It was the largest WPA jU sajd funds were not available project in the state The women performing the in-do anything about it Through the efforts of the Da- tricate tasks of loading the County Commissioners and tillery shells were considered the Ogden Chamber of Com- - safer than working in their own merce $300000 in WPA funds kitchen Two machine guns were stolen were allotted for work at the Ar- 1951 in senal Hopes were expressed that The Arsenal’s water supply the expenditure might eventually comes from reach $8 million springs near the of mouth Origi-plaWeber thex When ammunition loading Canyon was to he delayed because nally called Harbertson Springs' the war department did not have the name was changed- to Mili-- funds to purchase needed land tary Springs when the Arsenal the Chamber of Commerce step- - acquired the more than 700 acres ped forward againThe chamber they cover purchased 160 acres and gave it Several Names to the federal government The Arsenal has had the fol- The first powder arrived at lowing names: Ogden Ordnance the reborn installation in 1936 Depot Ogden Ogden About that time the possibility Arsenal Ogden Shell Factory began to be expressed that the and more recently the Ogden headquarters for the old 9th- Ordnance Plant which was its Corps might be placed at the Ar- first one too senal The curtailment started in late 1953 and early 1954 Bomb Loading Starts With each cutback in workload and employ- Ip 1938 industrial activities be- ment came the announcement garf with the loading of bombs that the future for the Arsenal As'thp national widrTn scSpe! looted good program became The bottom fell out last Oc- additional permanent type build- when the Army announced ings were erected both for stor- - toher that the oldest military age purposes and for loading installationsecond in state was the 37mm and 20mm shells to a become of Hill going part and In addition fuses primers were loaded for use with the AFB ®u even then hopes remained shells By September 1941 build- that the1 Arsenal would not avc ings were complete and equip- lose its Rumors had identity ment was installed for this work auto an manufacturing firm tak- For a year following Pearl Har- bor the Arsenal was the only arsenal in the country loading wBiw-wma- ws V- - s'' ''' ' 'M v ' V'' '"! '0 ' - ' Nv ' ' V '' '5 ' - - - juuuu IBPiraaBttaaowocwfgw'?i6aggWBiHwBQPMM-MijTafl- — jiuuw BUILT TO LAST — Among facilities inherited by the - - Air Force when it absorbed —— Ogden Arsenal - horse-draw- ( j n 49-ho- ur - 0en ar-v- mm COVERS A LOT OF GROUND — This aerial view gives some idea of the size of the Arsenal reservation In the foreground are scattered buildings and the open’ storage area which once contained thousands of vehicles of every type from tanks to jeeps The administration area is among the trees in upper right be- - gun until the Remington arms plant in -- Salt Lake City was ready to begin mass production The high quality and quantity of production at the Arsenal was recognized bv Washington in 1943 when the coveted Army- Navy “E” award was given The Arsenal was one of very few government installation to receive Diis efficiency award vv- SAME FLAG — Respects to the flag under which all military men serve" will continue to be paid here despite change in jurisdiction WO ''' tr - ' - In background are officers quarters ' ' ‘ — ' - 1 - " 5 ' is ' nt - " X r Sub-dep- ot ANOTHER VIEW— This scene showsart 1 I x ' ft ' I t'--j 1 f Hi- - vSf f' G ATS's ing over a new mission was talked about However the end of the Ar-aenal can be traced back to day tn 1938 when the first talk of an air field started- For it was this colossus that the Arsenal spawned that finally devoured it Of course it has been pointed out that had it not been for this stepchild of the Arsenal it would have not had the hopes for a re- birth that is being predicted to- v ' f of the parking area with warehouses in the ground back- - - - day ’ THEY DIDN’T GO ROLLING ALONG — 01c( iron-tireWorld War artillery caissons were stored at the Arsenal at the time the wind huffed and puffed bringing the roof down d 37mm pe of In January 30- and 1942 50-calib- re the linking shells to Xv ytjSA'f V f SOME DIFFERENCE — This is how’the entrance ot Ogden Ar- senal looked many years' ago The building on right is the guard-- I house A o n f y Mur- c ' 4' -- f t i' ' 1 '"'r '! 1 J t r"ivvuW'!Tpm) ’f i££-- H 'S t a i - 5 1 TT if ' i i-- t $£- " A 4 ) gfe’ n ihi - 3' t £6 I u V 1 1 O f - I: U ' ' $'"''''7 xj-- ‘yrZ? wx 1 r-itvt V f L i EXACTING JOB —-Th- 4 4 e most intricate - part-o- f -- an artillery shell is the nose fuse which explodes it at the right time This line is sembllng:and loading fuses I A f as- - "GIFTS FOR THE COMMIES — During the Korean Wkr Ogden mortar shells to the Arsenal supplied many thousands of front Women above are putting on some of the finishing touches 80-m- 4 A - f m ' saX&At&AAsZi H V yf — Here’s another scene illustrating the power of the wind which leveled Ogden Arsenal Luckily ammunition n boxes (at left) didn’t explode or the devastation would have WIND-POWE- 'A jy k ivf 4H t 6 ’ R been more-complete- if possible |