History of Letterkenny
In 1941, the War Department laid plans for 12 large, new Ordnance Depots to control the oncoming deluge of war materiel. Letterkenny Township was chosen due to its proximity. It was a safe, yet convenient distance from the eastern seaboard and Washington, D.C. with land well suited for ammunition storage. It had good rail facilities, nearby power and water, and another great resource, people, who historically had shown great courage and perseverance.
Public outcry ensued as prime agricultural land would be lost and 1,000 residents would be displaced if the land were acquired for a depot. Formal objections abated quickly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and people began to support the World War II effort. On December 18, 1941, The Secretary of War, Henry L. Stinson issued the directive to acquire 21,000 acres in Letterkenny Township for an Ordnance Depot. Letterkenny’s mission would be to reduce the surplus of forthcoming war materiel and to store and ship ammunition, trucks, parts and other supplies.
Construction began immediately with 798 underground igloos, 12 above-ground magazines and 17 warehouses. Later, in 1956, an additional 104 igloos were constructed bringing the total to 902. At the beginning, a large number of buildings were remodeled farmhouses, barns and chicken houses.
Colonel J.K. Clement became the first Depot Commander on July 17, 1942. Under his leadership, the first shipment of ammunition arrived by train on September 23, 1942, three weeks ahead of schedule. More than three million tons of supplies were moved during the war years. As men were called to service, staffing problems became acute. The Depot drained the countryside of manpower needed for agriculture. Women, Commandos, Minute Men, even Italian prisoners of war filled the jobs. Regular employees worked seven days a week and blitzes were common. With ingenuity and devotion, the Letterkenny workforce completed seemingly impossible tasks to keep ordnance materiel flowing constantly to 70 theaters of war. Letterkenny was one of the largest depots of its kind and was called the Springboard of Invasion in 1944.
After WWII, Letterkennians had hardly become adjusted to the idea that the war was over when they found themselves caught up in the new missions of peace. Even before these missions became official, combat vehicles began rolling into the Depot for storage. An enormous amount of ammunition was returned from overseas, some of which was unserviceable and had to be destroyed.
At the time of the Korean conflict, July 1950, Letterkenny Ordnance Depot was in better condition to meet the emergency than back in WWII. However, the gears had to shift from peacetime drive to high war-time production and the workforce swelled to 6,500 persons, with as many as 50 new employees coming each day. Letterkenny's mission of receiving, processing, storing and shipping vehicles was strong.
In 1946, experimental long-term de-humidified storage tanks were built to "can" or preserve vehicles. With the demands for ordnance materiel, the process was soon tested and deemed a success as vehicle after vehicle came out of the 169 petroleum storage tanks— all in excellent condition.
The 1950s were a time of growth as new technologies in electronics and guided missile maintenance increased the Depot's workload. Employees were trained in these fields and began working on NIKE missile components in 1953. Letterkenny became a pilot Depot for the implementation of the Depot Command Management System and SPEEDEX (System-wide Project for Electronic Equipment at Depots Extended).
In 1955, Major Item Supply Management Agency (MISMA), which provided control functions on a worldwide basis, became a tenant of Letterkenny. It evolved into the U.S. Army Depot System Command, Letterkenny’s immediate higher headquarters.
Letterkenny became a permanent military installation on July 1, 1954. The ordnance depot was renamed Letterkenny Army Depot (LEAD) in August 1962, and command and control of the Depot fell under the US Army Materiel Command.
The war in Vietnam signified the 1960s. An increase in missions and workload arrived at the Depot.
By the 1970s, Letterkenny’s growth seemed to slow; however, the depot still played a vital role. An ammunition washout facility was built and the Northeast Area Flight Detachment moved to Letterkenny. The US Army Depot System Command was established in 1976 and headquartered at Letterkenny. This Two-star command remained at Letterkenny until 1995 when it became the Industrial Operations Command at Rock Island, IL—today’s Operations System Command.
The Depot began evolving into its present state by the 1980s and early 1990s. New facilities and modernization projects, such as the Automatic Storage and Retrieval System-Plus were constructed. Letterkenny’s mission became three fold; supply, maintenance and ammunition.
In 1983, work from Paladin, PATRIOT and HAWK made Letterkenny a Center for Technical Excellence. The Depot was chosen in 1992 to be the center of all Tactical Missile Systems in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Letterkenny’s future was reshaped in the 1990s by the Tactical Missile consolidation and the Department of Defense downsizing, reorganization and realignments. The Base Realignment & Closure (BRAC) 1993 sent LEAD’s artillery mission to Anniston Army Depot, Alabama; however, the Tactile Missile Systems Mission remained. After the maintenance of missile systems from all Services were consolidated and transferred to LEAD, the Depot aggressively completed 22 missile systems. Gaining the workload and completing it both effectively and efficiently for this specific mission set LEAD apart as the well renowned depot for air defense and missile maintenance.
LEAD transitioned from US Army Industrial Operations Command (IOC) to Army Aviation and Missile Command on October 1, 1999.
On August 21, 2001 the Secretary of the Army recognized LEAD as the Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence (CITE) for Air Defense and Tactical Missile Ground Support Equipment.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, LEAD responded to the Global War on Terror by retrofitting Ground Mobility Vehicles, resetting Avengers and HMMWV’s and recapping PATIROT Missiles.
With the Department of Defense’s reorganization, Letterkenny’s supply mission moved to New Cumberland, PA under Defense Logistics Agency. In 2001, a smaller Directorate of Supply and Transportation was reestablished at Letterkenny.
In 2002, Letterkenny celebrated 60 years of supporting Soldiers and the Army.
To stay flexible, ready and relevant: Letterkenny transformed its 318,000 square foot vehicle building into a flexible manufacturing floor by using Lean Manufacturing concepts. The Depot facilitized each work bay/cell with identical capabilities. Lean Manufacturing techniques were implemented to achieve success in meeting new workload challenges in an era of Chemical and Biological threats.
In 2005 LEAD was recognized with the silver Shingo Prize for the PATRIOT Missile Launcher, becoming the first army depot to ever receive a Shingo Prize. This prize initiated the first of six Shingo awards the Depot would receive for excellent work in areas such as HMMWV Recapitalization, Generators, Biological Integrated Detection Systems and PATRIOT Systems.
BRAC 2005 named LEAD as number one in Military Value for Tactical Wheeled Vehicles. The innovative engineering of the GMV program proved successful as it distinguished itself in battle; it’s tough, lethal and maintainable.
Work during this decade centered on Cranes, Generators, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV), the Patriot Recapitalization program as well as Medium Mine Protected Vehicles (MMPV) and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) systems.
As the new decade began, LEAD celebrated a variety of accomplishments and improvements that were readily occurring across the Depot. In 2010, Letterkenny received its first Combined Logistics Excellence Award for superior performance of duty in Depot Maintenance Excellence resulting in improved combat readiness.
The Theater Readiness Maintenance Directorate in partnership with Raytheon Company and ITT-CAS produced the first missile at the newly constructed Theater Readiness Maintenance Facility. Lockheed Martin and Precision Fires Rocket and Missile System (PFRMS) partnered with LEAD to enhance High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) production. This included the Special Test Equipment, Special Tooling, tools, training, testing and, ultimately, LEAD’s demonstration of capabilities required to repair various M270A1 and HIMARS Fire Control System and HIMARS launcher components.
The production of Route Clearance Vehicles emerged as a primary focus of the Depot’s workload. LEAD, in 2010, was named the Joint Depot Source of Repair Decision on the Route Clearance Vehicles (RCV). The Services jointly agreed that Depot Maintenance will be accomplished organically for the RCV: Buffalo/MPCV, Vehicle Mounted Mine Detection System (VMMD) also known as the “Husky,” RG-31 Medium Mine -Protected Vehicle (MMPV), Joint EOD Rapid Response Vehicle (JERRV) and Medium Mine-Protected Vehicle (MMPV) Panther at LEAD.
In December 2010, Letterkenny completed the last of over 20,000 recapped HMMWVs. With the program completed, LEAD converted its primary assembly line of HMMWVs to accommodate Reset of PATRIOT Prime Movers. This new workload employed 173 people, with a workload encompassing 150 major items including Launchers, 373 Trailers, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT’s), 900 Series 5 Ton Trucks, Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) and 860 Trailers.
Since World War II, Korea and Vietnam, through Operation Desert Storm (Iraq) and Operation Just Cause (Panama), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) Letterkenny is proud to serve the soldier serving anywhere in the world.
LEAD has proven repetitively it is flexible, ready and relevant to meet the Warfighter’s needs. LEAD’s constant pursuit of excellence has resulted in becoming the Depot of choice for the greatest Warfighters in the world. Through a unified focus, the employees embrace their daily tasks and take personal responsibility for their role in supporting the Warfighter. Their loyalty, hard work and dedication is evident by the various awards they have received and the vast improvements they have helped to make across the Depot. LEAD is determined to provide the very best to our Nation’s deserving Warfighers.
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