31st Chemical Decontamination Company

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Thomas Brusveen, above, is the only member of the 31st Chemical Decontamination Company that can be identified. He said he always carried two cameras in his gear. 
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 The 31st was activated at Camp Bowie, Tex., in July 1942. After a training period which included some instruction in amphibious operations, it embarked for Great Britain, arriving early in January 1944. 
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 Final plans for the use of large area smoke screens during the cross-Channel attack provided for smoke over the ports of England from which the invasion would be mounted and smoke over OMAHA and UTAH beaches in Normandy. In both cases the screens would be used as a means of concealing activity from German aircraft. Extracted from "The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat." 
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 Chemical decontamination troops, scheduled to go ashore with the initial (D-Day) landings, were to use smoke pots and M2 generators to provide any necessary smoke. 
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 Once these plans for smoke operations were completed, the units could begin realistic training for their projected tasks. The 30th, 31st, and 33d Decontamination Companies received such training and were attached to engineer special brigades for the operation. 
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...If the Germans had used gas, we’da had to gone in with slurry suits and take slurry to neutralize the poison. ...a slurry suit is – well, it’s a rubber suit that’s air-tight. 
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 Between 7 September and the German surrender the following May, the 31st occupied fourteen successive stations in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany. 
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Brusveen, left. 
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 Brusveen, far left. 
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 Tom Brusveen, rear right. 
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 Tom Brusveen, right. 
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 Tom Brusveen, right. 
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 Tom Brusveen 
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 Tom Brusveen, rear, middle 
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