KEY TO MAP OF SHARPE GENERAL DEPOT AND VICINITY

LATHROP HEADQUARTERS

Located 9 miles south of inland port of Stockton, Calif. Served by Western Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. 78 miles from San Francisco Port of Embarkation. Tenanted by Engineer and Transportation Corps Supply Sections.

TRACY ANNEX

Located 13 miles from Lathrop Headquarters. Served by Western Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. Tenanted by Quartermaster Supply Section.

STOCKTON ANNEX

Located 11 miles from Lathrop headquarters. Served by Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Santa Fe Railroads, through the Terminal Association (belt line). Site of auxiliary storage operations of the Quartermaster and Transportation Corps Supply Sections. Headquarters and housing of the 34th QM Battalion.

FIELD ANNEX

Located 3 miles from Lathrop Headquarters. Served by Tidewater Southern Railroad. Personnel housed and billeted on 66-acre site. Site of depot housing and sales commissary.

MISSION-SHARPE GENERAL DEPOT

1. The mission of Sharpe General Depot is the separate and combined activity of its headquarters, and its tenant supply sections and attached activities, all as set forth in Special Regulations of the 780-series, namely 780-10-1; 780-12-1; 780-15-1; and 780-17-1. This mission is committed, for the supply sections, to the receipt, storage, and issue of supplies and equipment for distribution within the Sixth Army Area and, through the ports of San Francisco and Seattle, to Pacific and overseas theaters.

2. It is a distribution depot for key and reserve Quartermaster, Engineer and Transportation Corps supplies. The Engineer and Transportation supply sections have stock accountability. The Quartermaster Supply Section stores certain medical supplies for the accountability of the Alameda Medical depot, and certain strategic materials for the accountability of the General Services Administration, Emergency Procurement Service.

3. It is a receiving point for Engineer, Quartermaster, and Transportation supplies and equipment returned for processing from overseas and from posts, camps, and stations in the Sixth Army Area.

4. It is a field storage point for Surgeon General rolling stock the organizational maintenance of which is undertaken by the Transportation Division, Headquarters.

5. The Engineer Supply Section performs a depot maintenance mission.

Includes beneficial occupancy of section 3 (40,000 gross square feet) by Headquarters Section effective Oct. 23, 1953.

Source: Depot Storage Operations Report.

Mr. BARRON. Gentlemen, Sharpe General Depot is altogether typical of an Army class II installation, in our case, a general depot. It differs from the norm in only one significant respect, namely, its geographical dispersion.

I draw your attention to this area map which depicts our main and three subsidiary sites. We are presently at this point [indicates on map] which is known as Lathrop headquarters and from which control of the entire installation is conducted.

Our total space comprises 1497 acres, all owned by the Government except the field annex which you passed as we traveled from the airport and which is 66 acres in extent. The largest unit is Lathrop headquarters which has 724 acres and is the depot's central administrative site and the focal point of Engineer and Transportation supply operations. The next largest enterprise is Tracy Annex which is the site of the Quartermaster Supply Section. It is 448 acres in extent. The Stockton Annex, consisting of 259 acres, houses supply activities of the Quartermaster and Transportation Supply Sections and also various headquarters service elements.

The Supply Section missions here are, in the case of the Engineers, stock control, storage, and depot maintenance. Quartermaster is limited to a storage mission, stock control being administered through the Quartermaster Supply Section at Utah General Depot. The Transportation Corps has responsibility for stock control, storage, and a limited base maintenance mission.

Second only to two of the largest ordnance depots, Sharpe accounts for the greatest amount of tonnage handled and shipped by any class II installation in the continental United States. The major portion of this volume is made up of quartermaster supplies from our Stockton and Tracy Annexes.

The depot enjoys a signal advantage in that much of its outbound tonnage moves through the San Francisco, Oakland, and Stockton Ports of Embarkation. Most of this freight is hauled by common carrier trucks from the depot storage sites directly to shipside at the port. By making palletized shipments 1 man, using 1 forklift can, in 14 hours on the average, load the equivalent of a 40-foot railroad. boxcar on a truck and its trailer. Because of the separate handling necessary the same tonnage would cost upward of 5 man-hours of effort to stow in a freight car.

Sharpe General Depot is well located strategically. We have the Western Pacific and the Southern Pacific on our doorstep at both Lathrop headquarters and Tracy Annex. The Stockton Annex is served additionally by the Santa Fe Railway. We have likewise a low-cost shipping advantage that is somewhat peculiar to the San Joaquin Valley generally and is to be reckoned a permanent asset. The intensive agricultural exploitation of this area has called for a

thoroughly reliable transportation background, and such has been provided by a large investment of common carrier truck facilities. Thus the depot is afforded a movement service which is both economical and prompt and which enables Army goods to be moved at comparatively low cost.

Since Sharpe is a composition of three major sites dispersed over a lineal distance of 22 miles the question may arise, Is there not a cost disadvantage because of such dispersion? There is not. The proof lies in the data published by the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, which indicates that, item for item, Sharpe ranks among the least costly installations operated by the Army in the continental United States. Are there any questions?

Mr. HOLIFIELD. Do you transport the freight from the three other bases to the dockside there?

Mr. BARRON. Yes, we do. It is our aim to consolidate shipments whenever possible. The port authority's use of such groupings lowers our costs proportionately.

Colonel CLEARWATER. Thank you, Mr. Barron.

Are there any special requests, gentlemen? If not, I'll just have the three technical services give their reports.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. How long will it take for the three services to give it? We hope to get away from here at 5 o'clock.

Colonel CLEARWATER. We can do that, Mr. Chairman. I will allow 20 minutes for each section.

Colonel Cook, will you give your report first.

QUARTERMASTER SUPPLY SECTION

STATEMENT OF LT. COL. GORDON W. COOK, QMC, QUARTERMASTER SUPPLY OFFICER, SHARPE ARMY GENERAL DEPOT, LATHROP, CALIF.

Colonel Cook. Gentlemen, Mr. Barron has told you the mission of the Quartermaster Supply Section which now consists solely of storage and is under the accountability of Utah General Depot.

I understand that you have visited Jeffersonville and while there, General Marshall undoubtedly explained the lack of control and information at dispersed storage locations. His supplies are under the accountability of the Columbus General Depot just as ours are under the accountability of the Utah General Depot.

To explain where we enter into the proceeding, the Office of the Quartermaster General (OQMG) is the only agency which can conduct the complete screening. The Utah General Depots then has four storage locations, Utah, Sharpe, Auburn, and Mira Loma. The Utah General Depot screens items as OQMG furnishes them retention levels for any excesses. Utah General Depot notifies us of the amount of an item to be segregated into account 04. We notify Utah of the amount we have actually segregated, which might be slightly more or less than their records indicated. Naturally we excess the oldest stock rather than the class A. We segregate, get the General Services Administration condition code, and furnish to Utah in an endorsement to their letter. They fill out the form 120 and furnish us a copy.

The following information is derived from those copies of forms 120 which have been furnished to us from Utah General Depot. Since January 1, 1953, the Utah General Depot has submitted forms 120 in the amount of 208 for quartermaster supplies at Sharpe, which have 514 line items with a dollar value of $2,700,000 in round numbers. Of the 208, on 111 we have received disposal action covering 249 line items of a value of 53 percent of the lots declared, 48 percent of the line items, but only 15 percent of the dollar value. Some of it went to other Government agencies. As a storage division we don't keep that type of data. The majority went to the property disposal officer of this depot.

Although we have not received action on 97, action is becoming far more rapid over the last 60 days in the screening of these supplies. Additionally, over the last 90 days, disposal action has been coming much faster, and we get shipping documents on items to dispose of far more rapidly. In addition, during the last couple of weeks, we have segregated 86 additional lots.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. That directive came to you from the Utah General Depot at Ogden?

Colonel CoоK. Yes, sir.

Secretary THOMAS. Just what do you mean by segregate?

Colonel Cook. It is a term that means different things. It depends on the item, quantity, and so forth.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. There has been no physical segregation of this surplus property?

Colonel Cook. We might move small quantities from larger stacks. That is something you decide in each case in order to be sure it is handled properly.

Mr. BALWAN. We were told that you had in a warehouse at Tracy under the Quartermaster Corps, a warehouse containing 120,000 net square feet, one-third filled with miscellaneous paper including envelopes, for which there has been no activity since 1943.

Colonel Cook. You must be talking from a report of Mr. Miller's visit. (Mr. Miller is a civilian assistant to Brig. Gen. A. T. McNamara, Chief, Supply Division, Office, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, Logistics, Department of the Army, Washington, D. C.) Mr. Miller is a very conscientious person, but occasionally I have found that the caption on the pictures he took were not exactly accurate. He is talking about warehouse No. 6 at Tracy which does have 120,000 net square feet but which is filled, not one-third with paper, but is completely filled with paper products.

However, just a few days ago I made a complete survey of that warehouse, accompanying a representative of the Department of Defense, and was unable to find any item dated back to 1943. I don't say that there isn't an item in there dating back that far, but would like to stress that it would be the exception if there were.

Mr. BALWAN. Mr. Chairman, this notation is taken from a caption on a picture on this item in General McNamara's office. We hoped it was something we could see while here. Guess we won't have time. Colonel Cook. We have copies of those pictures.

Mr. BALWAN. How about these apricots?

Colonel Cook. I don't know what you are referring to, but imagine it comes again from a report by Mr. Miller. We turned over to Mr. Miller all items which were packed in 1951 or before. There is

nothing prior to the 1951 pack except some spices which are good keepers. There is no abnormal deterioration of the subsistence stock and OQMG is taking expeditious action to dispose of all of the older pack.

Mr. BALWAN. Do you have any Gibson forklift trucks? Colonel Cook. We have five that were shipped to the Depot Maintenance Division from posts, camps, and stations. They were frozen here. Luckily, we have never had any issued for use. Are there any more questions, gentlemen? Mr. RIEHLMAN. There appear to be none. Thank you, Colonel. Colonel CLEARWATER. Thank you, Colonel Cook. Gentlemen, you will now hear from Colonel Murnan, Engineer Supply Officer.

ENGINEER SUPPLY SECTION

STATEMENT OF LT. COL. HERBERT B. MURNAN, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, ENGINEER SUPPLY OFFICER, SHARPE ARMY GENERAL DEPOT, LATHROP, CALIF.

Colonel MURNAN. Gentlemen, the Engineer Supply Section operates as a distribution depot with technical control by the Office of the Chief of Engineers and the logistical control at the Engineer Supply Control Office at St. Louis, Mo.

We furnish logistical support for the Sixth Army area, and satellited on us is the Pasco Engineer Depot at Pasco, Wash. We have consolidated stock control at this depot for Sharpe Engineer Supply Section and Pasco.

We have just recently started on financial stock accounting.

Our inventory is $84,740,355, and our excess reports which are recorded on form 120, as of October 31, listed items valued at $4,905,865, which is included in the above $84,740,355. Currently all of our excesses are screened from the stock control cards maintained at the Engineer Supply Control Office, St. Louis. We have at the present, 347 form 120's open and being considered on which there are 363 line items.

We're in the same situation as Colonel Cook. We, too, have had in this regard an accelerated program of excessing. Starting back in August our excess on hand was $7,645,902, for which we did not have disposition authority. On September 30, that figure had been reduced to $5,065,742. At the close of October business we had a balance of $4,905,865 awaiting disposition.

Our excesses are reported by policies established by the Engineer Supply Control Office. They follow practically the same route as Quartermaster excesses except that they go to ESCO for screening. Mr. BALWAN. What is ESCO!

Colonel MURNAN. Engineer Supply Control Office at St. Louis. They coordinate almost all of engineer stock except spare parts which is controlled by the Columbus General Depot.

Mr. RIEHLMAN. Do they have knowledge of all equipment you have at this base?

Colonel MURNAN. Yes, sir.

The current excessing, unless we get more excess items, should be completed within the next 60 days. However, recently we have started screening all nonstandard stock-small items. Anything