American At War

Chemical remnants of scattered across campus, Spring Valley neighborhood

Sylvia Carignan
April 18, 2011

In a photograph dated 1918, a World War I Army sergeant stands over a row of ceramic jugs and wooden barrels, lined up near a gaping hole in the ground.

2001: Arsenic in AU soil triggers health concerns, debate in local community

Sylvia Carignan
April 11, 2011

The Army Corps of Engineers’ contractors were excavating World War I chemicals on the South side of campus in 2003 when they made a puzzling discovery.

1986-1993: Construction at AU and Spring Valley unearth dangerous World War I artifacts

Sylvia Carignan
April 4, 2011

More than half a century after U.S. Army engineers left campus, AU officials began to find evidence of the University’s military past.

1919: Army operations leave behind toxic reminders of war

Sylvia Carignan
March 28, 2011

By the time the Army finished its World War I chemical warfare testing at AU, the South side of campus had become known as “No Man’s Land.”

1918: Army unleashes deadly chemical gases on AU’s campus

Sylvia Carignan
March 21, 2011

While U.S. Army scientists tested chemical weapons at AU during World War I, one engineer saw it all — even the experiments gone horribly wrong.

1918: Army creates ‘Hell Fire Battalion’ to test deadly weapons at Camp AU

Sylvia Carignan
March 14, 2011

The Mary Graydon Center once housed the U.S. government’s largest chemical warfare research lab.

1917: AU volunteers campus to Army for training, testing

Sylvia Carignan
February 28, 2011

In April 1917, just days after the United States declared war on Germany, AU’s president wrote a letter to the White House.