A brighter note in the GOP picture was Line 5, which started production of 57mm shells in February, 1943, after waiting for a schedule since November of the previous year. Under the superintendency of Bill Dabney, with Everett Arthur as one of the general foremen, production on the line continued to improve almost without interruption throughout the spring. During this period every lot produced was accepted, including two which were originally rejected at the Proving Ground and are later accepted by the Office of the Chief of Ordnance because the variations causing their rejection are found not to be the responsibility of Gulf.

As for efficiency, man-hours of direct labor per round, which were .261 at the start of operations, had been reduced to .129 by May, a better performance than any comparable plant making 57 mm ammunition.

As one of our workers with a son overseas said, "We are going to see that he gets the shells, and we are going to be damn sure they'll shoot straight!"

-- -- from The Gulf Ordnance Plant 1942 - 45, Brent Coleman, A TomBigbee Country magazine Special Edition, 2002

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