Captain CLARE. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. And they were included in the invitation for bids and they were sold for $130?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. Did you have any other lot that you disposed of in any other manner?

Captain CLARE. We had another lot which I turned over to property disposal in August 1953.

This lot consisted of some more of the batteries that were in the Operation Snowfall category, and also there were some of them which were brought in here for Operation Snowstorm.

Mr. COTTER. How many of the Operation Snowstorm batteries? Captain CLARE. $4,073 worth of the Operation Snowstorm batteries. There were approximately $23,000 worth of the Operation Snowfall batteries.

Mr. COTTER. What disposition was made of those?

Captain CLARE. They were turned in to property disposal.

Mr. COTTER. What did property disposal do with them?

FURTHER TESTIMONY OF CAPT. MANUEL S. PINA, PROPERTY DISPOSAL OFFICER, CAMP DRUM, N. Y.

Captain PINA. I had those destroyed.

Mr. COTTER. In what manner?

Captain PINA. By burying.

Mr. COTTER. In the sanitary dump?

Captain PINA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. Can you fix the exact date when that happened? Captain PINA. Offhand I would say about the 19th of August 1953, if my memory serves me correctly.

Mr. COTTER. Isn't that the date that they were turned in?
Captain PINA. They were turned in about the 14th.

Mr. COTTER. Physically, what happened when they were turned in? Did you get a piece of paper on them?

Captain PINA. Yes, sir, at the time they were turned in to me I received a disposal authorization with the proper certification on it and the further certificaion by the Signal Corps officer. The physical items themselves are turned in to my warehouseman at the salvage yard.

He and I inspect samples of the particular batteries and, at that time, determine what the disposition of those items will be. In this particular lot, when the papers came to me on these particular batteries, I checked the certification, and the basis for the turn-in was identical to the basis on which the other batteries had been turned in and on which the sale had been consummated prior to my taking disposal.

I made a study of the bids on the prior sale. The high bid was $130 on the prior sale.

Based on that information, and based on the condition of the batteries themselves, I decided that the best results would be obtained by burying the items and not putting them up for sale, taking into consideration the cost to process the sale.

Mr. COTTER. Did you do all of this counseling with yourself?

41957 0-54- -14

Captain PINA. Yes, sir; I did, plus the advice that I got with respect to the condition of the batteries from my warehouseman, who knows his business pretty well, and also the certification of the Signal Corps officer, who was a technician in that phase of it.

Mr. COTTER. You were pretty new as a property disposal officer, weren't you?

Captain PINA. Yes sir.

Mr. COTTER. When did you take over?

Captain PINA. The first part of August 1953, as I recall.

Mr. COTTER. And this was a week or so after you took over?
Captain PINA. Yes sir.

Mr. COTTER. And here was property valued at $27,000 and you concluded that it should be buried?

Captain PINA. That is right, sir.

Mr. COTTER. And you did not confer with the technicians in the battery department or your chief of surplus disposal in this connection?

Captain PINA. The conference as far as I was concerned was not necessary because I had been given a properly executed certificate by a person whom I had no right to question unless it was obvious that he was absolutely wrong.

Mr. COTTER. Did you have confidence in doing that?

Captain PINA. Yes, sir, because I had been working in the S-4 section for quite some time as an assistant to Colonel Jennings, and, being in that section, it was part of my duties to familiarize myself with all the functions of that section.

Mr. COTTER. Were you familiar with the regulations and requirements concerning the procedure you had to go through when you were destroying property of this acquisition cost?

Captain PINA. To a certain extent, I was familiar with most of the regulations. However, I will admit that at this particular time I did fail in one aspect. I did not get a certificate from him authorizing me to order the destruction, but other than that the procedure was complied with.

Mr. IKARD. What was the other procedure?

Mr. COTTER. What steps did you go through?

Captain PINA. To study the turn-in slip and take a look at the documents substantiating the turnin of that item, to make sure that they had been classified by the Technical Service expert, and further to actually see a cross section of the particular item turned in, and to consult with the man who physically accepted them at the salvage yard.

Mr. IKARD. The only thing other than to get the written order was to convince yourself?

Captain PINA. Yes sir.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. You ordered the batteries buried and disposed of without any authorization, other than your own, is that correct? Captain PINA. That is what it amounts to.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Is there anything else out in that sanitary dump that has been disposed of and covered up that you know of?

Captain PINA. There are certain items that I have burned, but so far as destruction, this is the only item that I know of.

There are a couple of chemical warfare items that, according to regulations, you cannot put up for sale, that have to be destroyed due to the contents of the material.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Nothing else of any surplus nature?
Captain PINA. Not of any quantity, to speak of.

Mr. IKARD. The chemical warfare items were burned?

Captain PINA. Some of them burned and some of them chopped up. Mr. RIEHLMAN. Did you have an idea that you would not be able to get anything from the batteries on a sealed bid sale?

Captain PINA. Yes, sir. I looked at the bid abstract from the prior sale and saw that as a result of the many invitations for bids that had been circulated throughout the United States, only two responses had come forth. One bid for 37,000 batteries amounted to $130, and I therefore realized that for 20,000 batteries a sale would bring in less than that.

Mr. COTTER. It was a local buyer who got the $75,000 worth of batteries on the prior sale?

Captain PINA. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. Did you inquire of him whether he would be interested in any more batteries?

Captain PINA. No. That was not within my province. I believe, had I approached him, he would have bought them, but for probably $25 or $50, or even less than that, judging what he paid for the 37,000 batteries of the like kind at the prior sale.

Mr. COTTER. It seems a bit unusual that you took this action without talking to some of your fellow officers who might corroborate your judgment on the thing.

As I recall, the information was not developed by our investigation until just the past Saturday afternoon that the disposal was made in that manner.

Can you explain why you did not mention it to Mr. Balwan or Mr. Morris when they were investigating?

Captain PINA. It had not been brought up. Mr. Balwan asked me about the 37,000 batteries sold in fiscal year 1953.

Questions about any subsequent batteries had not been brought up, and I only found out the information when you brought up the question and I looked up my file.

Mr. COTTER. Had you forgotten that you destroyed that?

Captain PINA. No, sir.

Mr. COTTER. It did not occur to you that it was a related matter? Captain PINA. Not at that particular time. You were mentioning the 37,000 batteries at that time, and not the additional batteries.

Mr. COTTER. There are approximately $100,000 worth of batteries that were left over, and they did deteriorate to the degree where you had to make a disposition of them such as you have described?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir. For the two exercises we had a total of $1,186,798 worth of batteries brought in here.

There were 42 percent used, and 50 percent returned to the supply system, and 8 percent turned in to property disposal. That is the summary recapitulation of the two exercises, the battery activity during the two exercises.

Mr. COTTER. Do you feel that a much better record than that could have been made if a better deployment had been made of the batteries, or if they had been sent in to the warehouse immediately?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir; I think evidence of that is the result of Exercise Snowstorm where 43 percent were used, and 56.5 percent were returned to the system, and 0.5 percent lost.

I also think that during Exercise Snowstorm the post supply people, although they did not have the opportunity to plan the requirements, took the responsibility to accept this equipment and distribute it, and, I think, that being fully cognizant of the picture from the beginning, and carrying it through from the beginning of the exercise to the end, is the reason for the better showing that we had after Operation Snowstorm.

Mr. COTTER. Were any of the batteries stored outside during the summer?

Captain CLARE. During the summer of 1952?

Mr. COTTER. Or 1953.

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir. When we got the 15 carloads in for the 82d Airborne Division, and issued them to them, they were returned, and because of the great quantities of batteries and other signal equipment, I was forced to outside storage equipment.

I had both loading platforms, as well as the inside of the warehouse, partially filled, and the backyard had batteries in waiting for observation.

Mr. COTTER. Did some of the batteries remain outdoors until they were sold?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir, I think isolated quantities of them, perhaps. Most of the batteries involved were the 82d Airborne Division batteries.

Mr. COTTER. That is the Operation Snowstorm batteries?
Captain CLARE. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. Did that hasten their deterioration?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir. The most ideal way to store batteries is in a cool, dry place, possibly at a temperature of about 35°, or if it is possible and practical for depot storage they should be stored at about zero. The colder the batteries are stored the more stable the chemical action is, and it prolongs the life.

If a battery is subjected to heat or any sort of room temperature or heat from the sun, the chemical action continues in it and it just expends itself while it is sitting on the shelf. The life expectancy is shortened.

Mr. COTTER. In addition to the loss from deterioration through storage, you also had the excess cost of the unloading and storage and reloading of those 50 percent that you sent back?

Captain CLARE. Yes, sir.

Mr. COTTER. I have just one more question.

We took photographs of these batteries down at the yard of the buyer, and in examining those boxes we found some that did not have an expiration date on them until some time in 1954. Could you account for the reason why those cartons, all packed, would be in there? Captain CLARE. It is possible in making the shipment that some boxes, other than the ones that were supposed to go in there, might have been picked up.

Mr. COTTER. Do you have any batteries in storage now?
Captain CLARE. A few boxes of BA-270's.

Mr. COTTER. What are they?

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Are those marked 1954 expiration date on them? Captain CLARE. I do not recall. I think the BA-270's had an October expiration date.

Mr. COTTER. About five cartons I saw.

Those are all the questions I have.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Do you have any questions, Mr. Ikard?

Mr. IKARD. I have no questions.

Mr. COTTER. Does anybody else want to make a statement about this whole proceeding?

TESTIMONY OF LT. COL. MILLEDGE M. BECKWITH, G-4, CHIEF, SUPPLY AND MAINTENANCE DIVISION, FIRST ARMY HEADQUARTERS, GOVERNORS ISLAND, N. Y.

Lieutenant Colonel BECKWITH. I want to clear up one point with respect to redistribution. The mere fact that they would leave batteries at Camp Drum for redistribution does not mean that there is a physical movement of such batteries until there is a requirement from a station that needs it. Otherwise, you would be loading up an inventory. But they are available for requisition. It would not be very practical to ship them to some station which had no requirement for them and probably have to reship them from there, so they were left here for redistrubution upon call.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Are there any other statements?

Captain NANCE. The condition on the refrigeration unit we excessed and sold was 0-3 condition which, interpreted, means "Used minor repairs necessary, some spare parts needed, replacement."

Mr. RIEHLMAN. On behalf of the committee members, I want to express our appreciation for your courtesy in this hearing.

I particularly want to commend Colonel Bedell for the splendid statement he made here at the opening, and the treatment that he has accorded our committee here at Camp Drum.

As I told the press this morning, there will be no other statement from the committee at this time. This hearing was held for the purpose of drawing out every bit of information that we could, and it is tied in with a whole program that we had decided on before Congress adjourned. We are visiting many of our military installations throughout the United States on a survey of the surplus property disposal problem. This will be only part of the whole program, and this hearing and the disposal program here will be treated in our report on this overall problem.

Thank you, and we will now stand adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 3: 50 p. m., the hearing was adjourned.)