Major General Sampson H. Bass, Jr. was born in Washington, DC and would go onto commission as a Chemical Operations Officer. He was Director of the Weapons Development and Engineering Laboratories, Edgewood Arsenal and then Commander of Pine Bluff Arsenal.

Major General Bass was involved with the U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program in the early 1970s as Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization and Installation Restoration. During this time, the Army researched and developed more environmentally-sound chemical weapons disposal methods of high-temperature incineration and chemical neutralization. Until the time of his retirement, he was considered the “Grandfather” of the Chemical Demilitarization Program that started in 1969 with Task Force Eagle.

As a result of the foundation laid by Major General Bass during 45 plus years of dedicated service, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) was able to complete its mission of destroying nearly 90 percent of the nation’s stockpile of chemical agents and successfully completing its mission to destroy all chemical agent munitions and items declared at entry-into-force of the Chemical Weapons Convention.