By JEFF MONTGOMERY
Staff reporter
07/28/2004

Government officials remained puzzled Tuesday about how a World War I-vintage chemical "mustard" weapon found its way into a poultry farm driveway west of Bridgeville.

Three Dover Air Force Base sergeants were hospitalized July 21 after they reacted to a blister agent released when they attempted to open and disarm the 75 mm chemical-filled shell. One of the three was still in a burn unit at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Base officials said he is expected to recover.

A spokesman for the Army's Technical Escort Unit at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland said tests had tentatively identified the contents of the shell as sulfur-based mustard agent of a type produced in huge amounts for armed forces around the globe.

But military, state and county officials said they could not explain how the ordnance ended up in a clamshell-covered driveway near the Maryland state line and were unsure of the steps needed to prevent a repeat or ensure prompt public notification.

A state trooper spotted the weapon July 19. Base officials issued a statement on the find and subsequent injuries four days later, in response to inquiries.

"It kind of sounds like maybe the agencies need to work together more," said Robert Stuart, deputy director of emergency medical services in Sussex County.

"They haven't told me anything. I tried to find out," Jody Brown, owner of the property where the shell surfaced, said late Tuesday. "I thought something was going on after they came back with metal detectors and searched the whole farm."

Aberdeen officials said the weapon may have been dumped in the ocean decades ago and dredged up with clams and shells and later used as pavement. Dozens of conventional munitions, including hand grenades, have turned up along clamshell drives in recent months in southern Delaware.

"Clearly, we may have a role from the standpoint that we're an agency that responds to environmental incidents," said David Small, deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. "It may well be that the clams are coming from ocean waters outside the state's jurisdiction."

Cathy Kropp, a spokeswoman for the Army Guardian Brigade at Aberdeen, said staffers took the shell to a firing range after state police sought help with it July 19.

Reach Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com