Doctors reported a later epidemic of serratia infections around San Francisco in the 1960s. John Mills, then a professor at the University of California Medical Center, wrote a paper questioning whether Army tests "could have seeded the Bay area" with the germs.

Mills, now at the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, now doubts Army tests were related to the serratia outbreaks.

"Subsequently we were able to serotype some of the strains causing endocarditis (a heart infection) . . . and none of them were the same serotype used by the Army — (and) the latter information was not made available to us willingly! Therefore, the outbreak was unrelated to the Army's biological warfare testing," he told the Deseret News.

YEARS OF FIELD TESTS

Documents show tests occurred for years with both chemical and biological agents, usually in remote areas of the Pacific.

As documents for "Operation Flower Drum Phase I" in 1964 said, "Isolation from shipping and air traffic lanes is required. Incidental presence of unidentified vessels and aircraft in this area (170 miles from Pearl Harbor) will be avoided."

One reason for that is the test spread 600 pounds of deadly, vaporized nerve agent GB (laced with radioactive particles to make it easier to trace) that had been flown to Hawaii from Utah. The remoteness provided safety and secrecy.

Virgil Hodges of Portland, Ore., who commanded five tug boats assigned to the Dugway navy, said during such tests, the tugs would often crisscross through clouds of agent while detection devices on board collected information.

"The crew stayed inside a citadel," which was airtight and pressurized, he said. "One crew member always stayed on deck, but he wore a full M-3 protective suit and breathed air that was pumped to him."

Documents show that the larger liberty ships also had "safety citadels" where crew members would retreat during testing. Crews in protective suits would then handle initial decontamination detail and the collection of dead test animals.

The range of such tests included dropping "20,000 gallons of BG (bacillus globigii) slurry" from helicopters and jets during Operation Autumn Gold in 1963 to working with nerve agents GB and VX and other tests where agents used remain "secret."

One test in 1965 involved a submarine. The USS Carbonero had bacillus globigii placed aboard to see if fumigation could decontaminate it.

The number of all such tests is unknown. Documents obtained by the Deseret News mention only a dozen or so trials. But a letter obtained by one of the sailors show hundreds are likely.