Following is the chain of events surrounding the U.S. military's secret poison gas tests on young servicemen in World War II. Soldiers and sailors were misled about the long-term health risks. And the U.S. government never fulfilled a commitment to contact volunteers individually and provide treatment or other compensation for those harmed by the tests.

June 28, 1918: U.S. Army creates Chemical Warfare Service to oversee chemical weapons production and find ways to protect troops.

May 8, 1942: The U.S. Army and Navy approve plans to test blistering agents on recruits and develop better protective clothing. The military begins secret gas chamber and field tests, exposing more than 4,000 volunteers to mustard gas, lewisite and other chemicals. Tests are conducted at Edgewood Arsenal, Md.; Camp Sibert, Ala.; Bushnell Field, Fla.; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; San Jose Island, Panama Canal Zone, and the Naval Research Lab, Washington D.C., among other sites.

Dec. 2, 1943: German planes bomb the harbor town of Bari, Italy, sinking Allied ships including one packed with U.S. mustard bombs. Merchant seamen and civilian personnel escape by swimming through waters laced with oil and mustard agent. Of the more than 800 casualties, 628 suffered from mustard exposure. Sixty-nine deaths were attributed to mustard exposure.

1979: Navy veteran Nat Schnurman files a federal lawsuit in Virginia seeking damages for health problems related to World War II chemical tests and accusing the Navy of deliberately concealing the health risks. The court dismisses the suit, ruling that Schnurman waited too long to sue and citing a legal doctrine that shields the military from suits for injuries "incident to service."

March 1991: The Department of Veterans Affairs claims it began tracking mustard gas exposure reports in this month. On March 6, the Navy sends a letter to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chair of a House subcommittee monitoring veterans' claims, opposing a measure giving $750,000 each to Schnurman and three other Navy veterans injured in chemical tests. Most of the money is later awarded, anyway.

June 11, 1991: Under pressure from Congress, the VA announces it will compensate World War II mustard gas victims and will relax the level of proof normally required for veterans to prove their injury is related to military service. The category of veterans is later expanded to include chemical production and transport workers and personnel exposed to mustard gas in Bari. The seven diseases recognized are: asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, chronic laryngitis, corneal opacities, chronic conjunctivitis and keratitis of the eye. The VA also agrees to finance a $600,000 study by the Institute of Medicine to determine whether other illnesses can be linked to the testing.

April 1992: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) gathers testimony from World War II veterans who participated in mustard gas and lewisite tests.

July 20, 1992: Dr. Han Kang of the VA visits Edgewood and finds records on 12 Army units subjected to field tests. Kang eventually finds the names of more than 750 Army veterans known to have participated in chemical tests.

Sept. 17, 1992: The VA orders its regional offices to keep detailed logs of Navy and Army chemical claims.

Jan. 5, 1993: Then-acting VA Secretary Anthony Principi promises then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in a letter that the VA will "make every effort to obtain through various official channels the subjects' current addresses and notify them of the possible health risks associated with the exposures, [and] evaluate them medically."

Jan. 6, 1993: A committee formed by IOM finds additional diseases linked to chemical exposure: including skin cancer, respiratory cancers and other diseases of the eyes, lungs, skin, respiratory and circulatory systems. Committee also links tests to psychological disorders and sexual dysfunctions. Report faults Pentagon for secrecy oaths and its failure to monitor people exposed to chemicals. Pentagon concedes faults and -- with the VA -- pledges to track down potential victims, or their survivors, correct the record, release them from secrecy oaths, issue commendations, and award what benefits and compensation they deserve.

Feb. 2, 1993: New VA Secretary Jesse Brown tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch the VA will not only pursue veterans, it will pursue and compensate the families of veterans who died from illnesses caused by the chemicals. "Our goal is not to look for ways to deny [claims]," Brown is quoted as saying. "It is really, in fact, to look for ways to grant the benefits."

Feb. 4, 1993: The VA says it has processed 346 mustard-gas claims as of this date, granting 82. The majority of claims are denied because the VA "has been unable to verify exposure to this agent."

Feb. 23, 1993: U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., drafts a bill directing the Pentagon to issue commendations to every person exposed to mustard gas testing in WWII. The bill also would require the Pentagon to notify each serviceman of health risks and treatment options, then pass on any information it receives to the VA. The bill never becomes law, but Pentagon reaches 772 veterans.

March 10, 1993: VA officials testify before a House subcommittee that they will track down WWII chemical victims individually, warn them of health risks and evaluate their eligibility for benefits. The VA never fulfills its pledge to individually contact these men, relying on unpaid public-service announcements.

Sept. 8, 1994: The VA records 2,042 mustard-gas claims by this date, with 193 veterans granted compensation. These are the last claims statistics ever compiled by the VA for World War II chemical tests.

Sept. 10, 2004: VA acknowledges to the Free Press that it made no effort to directly contact WWII chemical volunteers or workers, despite promises to do so. VA Secretary Principi tells the Free Press in October he was unaware there were problems and promises to "do a better job to outreach to them."

By David Zeman