Jefferson Barracks Air National Guard Base

Jefferson Barracks Air National Guard Base is a Missouri Air National Guard installation located about 12 miles south of downtown St. Louis, on the western bank of the Mississippi River in St. Louis County. The broader Jefferson Barracks site has a long military history, serving as an active U.S. Army post from 1826 through 1946 and ranking among the oldest continuously used military reservations west of the Mississippi. Beginning in 1950, tracts of the former Army land were transferred to other uses, and the site now hosts Missouri Air National Guard units, including the 157th Air Operations Group and elements of the 131st Bomb Wing's support organization. The base supports administrative, communications, and combat support functions for the Air National Guard in the region. Because of the site's lengthy history as a training and staging post, environmental work here has focused largely on what earlier eras left behind.

State environmental records have documented several concerns at and around the installation, centered on unexploded ordnance from the World War I and World War II periods, along with petroleum from past fuel handling. The following items have been associated with the site and reflect the basis for concerns about potential exposure.

1. Unexploded ordnance: Since February 1996, live fragmentation and white phosphorus grenades, Stokes mortar rounds, and hundreds of cartridges and fuses have been discovered and destroyed along the adjacent riverbank, which served as a wartime dumping ground. Aging munitions of this kind can, in general, release explosive compounds such as RDX into soil or groundwater, although available state records for this site describe the recovery and destruction of physical ordnance rather than documented detections of such residues here. People with documented past contact with munitions may still wish to discuss any concerns with a clinician.
2. Jet fuel and buried fuel tanks: State records note buried fuel tanks at the site, consistent with the storage and handling of aviation and other petroleum fuels common to a flying and support installation. Jet fuel and its components have been associated with concerns about potential exposure where leaks or spills reach soil or water, and such releases are a routine focus of military environmental review.

This site is not listed on the National Priorities List. Cleanup has been carried out under the Department of Defense's environmental restoration framework, with the adjacent former dumping grounds addressed as a Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) property under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, hundreds of ordnance items have been recovered and destroyed since 1996, a Final Decision Document was issued in November 2016, and the site has been described as entering the final stages toward closure.

Veterans, Guard members, and civilian staff who served or worked at Jefferson Barracks and who have questions about these conditions are encouraged to stay informed as cleanup records are updated. Anyone with concerns about possible exposure may find it helpful to keep documentation of their service and to speak with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs about available health resources and benefits guidance.