Army deactivates Kansas munitions plant

[unhappycamper]

Army deactivates Kansas munitions plant
By John Milburn - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 4, 2009 17:42:39 EST

PARSONS, Kan. — An ammunition plant in southeast Kansas built to assemble bombs for soldiers fighting in World War II was deactivated Wednesday, the first closure of an Army installation under the most recent congressional plan to shutter and reconfigure military bases.

The Kansas Army Ammunition Plant officially closed with a brief ceremony in a basement of a building at the facility during which an olive drab cover was placed over the installation’s red flag. About 75 people attended the event.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” said Ruby Redmond, 85, who worked in personnel at the plant from 1951 until retiring in 1994.

The plant actually made its last bomb — a sensor-fused weapon dropped from aircraft capable of hitting multiple targets — in December, ending ammunition production that began in 1942 when more than 7,000 employees built bombs and artillery rounds bound for Europe and the Pacific.

Redmond said the plant was its own city when she worked there, with thousands of employees working around the clock to build ammunition for the Korean and Vietnam Wars.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_ammunitionsplant_brac_030409/%2e