The American Ordnance Association 1919 - 1969
Richmond, VA: The William Byrd Press, 1969. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. 114, [1] pages. Illustrations/Inscribed on the fep to Ms. Virginia M. Rosser With All our Best Wishes, Major General Oliver W. Lewis Major General USAF (Ret). Oliver W. Lewis, was vice president of the American Defense Preparedness Association, and as such interacted with the American Ordnance Association. Brigadier General Benedict Crowell, who had served as the Assistant Secretary of War during WWI, realized that there needed to be an approach for involving industry with national defense. In October 1919, he convened a meeting of military officers and leading manufacturers at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland to discuss this deficiency and explore what might be done. The result of this gathering was the establishment of the Army Ordnance Association. The goal of this Association was industrial preparedness, both in peacetime and in times of war. Crowell served as the Chairman of the AOA from 1920 to 1945. In 1948, the Army Ordnance Association changed its name to the American Ordnance Association, reflecting the changes brought about by the establishment of the Department of Defense. At that time, the Association broadened its technical coverage and activities to include manufacturing, emerging technologies, and supply chains for sustainment. On January 1, 1965, the Armed Forces Chemical Association and the American Ordnance Association merged and continued to address their foundational mission under the banner of the American Ordnance Association. In 1973, the name of the Association was changed to American Defense Preparedness Association – the ADPA. Colonel Leo A. Codd was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895 and graduated from Loyola University in 1916. He later completed graduate studies at Georgetown University, receiving a Master of Law degree in 1923. Following a year as an instructor in chemistry at Georgetown, he was a civilian explosives chemist with the Ordnance Department for six years. In 1924, he was appointed Associate Editor of the Army Ordnance Association. For five years during the late 1920's, he was on active duty in the Manufacturing Service of the Ammunition Division, Office Chief of Ordnance. From 1929 until his retirement in 1963, he served the Ordnance Association in a variety of capacities as editor, author of numerous articles on mobilization and defense issues, executive secretary, and executive vice-president.
In 1937, his book American Industry and National Defense was published. During World War II, he was recalled to active duty as executive assistant to the Chief of Ordnance. Colonel Codd is recognized for his dedication to the cause of industrial preparedness before and after World War II, his long service to the Army Ordnance Association, and his public relations service to the Ordnance Corps during World War II. The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army combat units with weapons and ammunition, including at times their procurement and maintenance. Along with the Quartermaster Corps and Transportation Corps, it forms a critical component of the U.S. Army logistics system. Beginning in 1942, with the authorization of the Chief of Ordnance, a computing branch at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering was established as a substation of Aberdeen Proving Ground under the code name "Project PX". On 15 February 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the world's first general-purpose electronic computer, was formally dedicated. ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army Ballistic Research Laboratory. The ENIAC's first use was in calculations for the hydrogen bomb. In August 1945, Colonel Holger Toftoy, head of the Rocket Branch of the Research and Development Division of the US Army's Ordnance Department, offered initial one-year contracts to German rocket scientists as part of Operation Paperclip, a program used to recruit the scientists from Nazi Germany for employment by the United States; 127 of them accepted. In September 1945, the first group of seven rocket scientists arrived at Fort Strong, New York and then moving to Fort Bliss, Texas, in January 1946. In 1949, the German scientists were transferred from the White Sands Missile Range Fort Bliss Range Complex to the Redstone Arsenal Ordnance Rocket Center. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Ordnance, United States Army, Industrial Association, Military Technology, Explosives, National Defense, Rockets, Energetic Materials, Industrial Preparedness, Military Preparedness
[Book #82964]
Price: $150.00