Chemical Processing Company Case Study

In the company photograph of the 130th Chemical Company the three friends are sitting together shoulder to shoulder, just as they joined the Army together, trained together, and then stationed together in London, where on July 3, 1944, died together. Close friends while living in Portland, Robert H. Cook, Philip J. Conley, and Chester R. Peterson, joined the Army and left for training together in January, 1943. They were assigned to the 130th Chemical Company and sent to Camp Sibert, Alabama The primary mission of the Chemical Processing Company was to provide protective clothing for troops in case of a chemical attack. The men of the 130th trained in the operation of impregnating plants, which impregnated field uniforms with chlorinating
They would later train with British Rescue Squads in the removal of debris and the search for survivors. It would not be long before they put their new training to work. On Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2, 1944, after another V-1 attack in the Sloane Court area, most of the 130th dispatched into the neighborhoods to help search for wounded civilians. They worked tirelessly over the week-end and were scheduled to return to their rescue work the next day.. The next morning, Monday, July 3, after an early breakfast the first group of men were loaded on a truck just outside their billet. Suddenly, at about 7:30 a.m. a V-1 bomb appeared out of the morning London haze and dropped into the street near their billet. In seconds, the force of the explosion completely destroyed one billet and nearly two others, while the troop filled truck was blasted into the side of the buildings. It was the single most loss of life of U.S. servicemen in Great Britain, with 62 men of the 130th killed in the explosion, among the dead were S/Sgt Robert H. Cooke, S/Sgt., Philip J. Conley, and T/Sgt. Chester R.