The members of the 329th Chemical Company (Decontamination) Army Reserve Group will be in Natchez July 5 through 8 from all over the United States to celebrate with their comrades and remember their deceased brothers.

This year’s memorial service will be 3 p.m. Sunday, July 7, at Greater Macedonia Baptist Church on Minor Street.

The community is invited to attend our memorial service.

The 329th Chemical Company was originally the 122nd Chemical Impregnating Company. It was activated at Chemical Warfare Service Training Center in Attalla, Alabama, in February 1943. In 1944, the 122nd Chemical Impregnating Company was reassigned to the 122nd Chemical Processing Company. It was allotted to Organized Reserve Status and assigned to the 3rd Army on July 14, 1947.

The 122nd Processing Company was reassigned as the 329th Chemical Company and was activated in Jackson, as a decontamination unit in 1953. It changed location to Natchez on July 20, 1955. It was reorganized in Natchez with the second and third platoons being in Lorman on June 25, 1959.

The 2nd and 3rd platoons were relocated and consolidated to Natchez on Aug. 2, 1960.

The following persons were activated with the 329th in August 1961: David H. Williams, John R. Collins, Edward G. Foresman, Bryant A. Reed Jr., Walter B. Mackel, Jerry Graves, Leroy Graves, James I. Phipps, Charles Anderson, Joseph Davis, Wilbert Lloyd, Glasper Minor, Lee E. Minor, Willie M. Smith, Odie L. Butler, Cullen McCoy, Carl Williams, Rogers Adams III, Eric Wilson, Delorus F. Curtis, Ralph Jennings, Robert L. Taylor, Columbus Woods Jr., Willie E. Minor, Hosea Sanders, Walter L. Barnes, Sam Colston Jr., Ernest Cubit, Charles H. Holmes, Richard Jackson Jr., Freddie Johnson Jr., Vertie Johnson Jr., Wilbur O. Johnson Sr., Frank E. Jones, Will Scott Jr., Robert L. Jackson, Floyd Morgan, George W. Smith, James Carter, Walter Lucas, Louis Williams, Leroy Davis, Charles L. Dobbins, Frank Dobbins, Roosevelt Foster, John M. Hoskins, Rayford E. Mayberry, Edward G. McMorris, Elisha L. Quinn, James Robinson, Melvin L. Shelly, Herman B. Smith, Leonard L. Thomas Jr., Henry L. Winston, Charles E. Young, Franklin D.R. Davis Jr., Leon Davis, Shed Howard Jr., Billy Q. Malone, Jesse H. Moore, Cecil Hawkins, James T. Henderson and Lee O. Rice.

The unit was put on notification of possibly being moved to active duty status. In August 1961, the unit was notified of its active duty status and received orders transferring the unit to Fort McClellan, Alabama. In July 1961, the unit was put on alert and made preparations to be transferred to Germany. The order was never given.

In August 1962, the unit received orders sending it back to its home location, Natchez, where it was to assume non-active status. The unit’s location was changed from Natchez to Chattahoochee, Fla., on June 15, 1964.

Under the leadership of Rogers Adams III and others, it was decided to establish the 329th Chemical Company Reunion Group and to have a unit reunion every two years, starting in 1991.

Wilbur O. Johnson Sr., company clerk of the 329th Chemical Company and secretary for the reunion Group.