The Air Raid on Bari and the resulting release of mustard gas from the SS John Harvey was an unfortunate event that weighed heavily on myself and my command. Both due to the effects that the release of chemical weapons had on the surrounding Allied forces and Italian populace, as well as the fear that if the Germans discovered we had chemical weapons standing by for use in theater, that they may begin using their own chemical weapons against us in a first strike scenario.

While I was aware that chemical weapons were in the Italian theater, ready to be used in the event of Germany deploying chemical weapons against Allied forces, I was not aware of their exact location until after the raid on Bari took place. After initial reports came into my headquarters following the raid that suggested the potential accidental release of chemical weapons, my Deputy Surgeon General, Fred Blesse, dispatched a member of my medical staff, Dr. Stewart Alexander, to investigate. Dr. Alexander had training specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of those affected by chemical weapons, so his experience was invaluable as he quickly surmised that mustard gas had in fact been released despite the denials and stonewalling of the local British command who had authority over the harbor. His actions helped save many lives and his persistence eventually led the local British command to acknowledge they had become aware of the presence of chemical weapons aboard the SS John Harvey. The harbor at the time of the raid had been backed up with several ships waiting to unload their cargo, and for reasons unknown, the SS John Harvey was not given priority to offload its cargo and waited several days to do so. This error leading to the unfortunate events on December 2, 1943.

However, the fact remained that chemical weapons had been released, and accidental or not, their presence in the Italian theater was in danger of being revealed to the Germans, who could interpret their presence as the prelude to first strike use of chemical weapons against their forces. After much discussion between my command and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, a statement was released in February 1944 (quietly) that acknowledged the presence of chemical weapons in Bari, but stressed that they were there only to be used in the event that chemical weapons were used against Allied forces by the Germans. Fortunately, the Germans heeded this message and did not utilize chemical weapons against Allied Forces. Despite this, much of the event and the circumstances surrounding it were classified in American records and outright scrubbed in British records by order of Winston Churchill.