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New River Plant Being Reopened To Operate At Capacity; Hundreds Of Employees NeededAccording to Lt. Col. H. D. Reynolds, commanding officer at the Radford Ordnance WorkB, the New River ordnance plant at Dublin, alBo under Col. Reynolds’ jurisdiction, will again expand to full production capacity.The plant employed about 5,-000 workers before it reduced its personnel in September. Now it is estimated that between five and nix thousand workers will be needed, mostly women, to carry out the work of weighing and loading the powder made at Radford into bags for shipment. New equipment including machinery, is being inatajled to replace that shipped away, it is understood.The work to be done at New River is therefore substantially the same as well done there before. The • Radford Ordnance Works produces powder for heavy artillery. Last September it was thought by the war department that there warf-’enough powder toheavy artillery on hand and being produced by a limited number of plants to iaBt a few years.Had Closed % PlantTherefore, the New River plant was closed, the Radford plant’s personnel reduced. But, Col. Reynolds said, .As battles are fought the needs of warfare change. The campaigns in Italy and Normandy are proving to us that more heavy artillery is neded. It is cheaper to use powder than lives. Therefore, although we thought we had enough ammunition for heavy artillery, we now discover such is not the case. Needs have increased. Radford and New River are therefore being called upen to do a Job once more. A-Job exceedingly important to th« success of the war.Officials of the plants pointed out that labor here formerly had now been drained off into other ordnance plants throughout the country, in Tennessee, Wisconsinand Kansas. In order to resume full production activity plant officials hope to draw their labor from the Roanoke-Radford-Dub-lln-Pulaski area. Most of these employees will be women, Bince | the operation in the New River plant is one that women may easily do. To get new help the plant is now conducting a recruitment contest offering $2.50 to every employee who brings a new workers to the plant provided that recruit stays 25 weeks. •It was pointed out that Radford has an excess of housing facilities in government owned Sunset village and Monroe Terrace. Houses are also available in the Fairlawn ., development across New river and in Mac-gill village near Pulaski.. Powder made at the Radford plant is in small grains; for in-atance the powder for the 155mm.(Continued On Page I. Colur
Newspaper Details
Pulaski Southwest Times
Pulaski, Virginia, US
Fri, Jul 14, 1944
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Dennis K.
NA, 10 Jul 2017
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