The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc.
"Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project"
|
|
The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
|
| Home | Site Map | Contact Us | Feedback | Mission |
| In conjunction with our commitment to the Veteran History Project of the Library of Congress, we proudly present the Veterans of the Manhattan Project. Below are the personal histories of 12 of these veterans. Please "click" on a name below to go directly to that veteran's section or simply page down to view them all. Please "click" here to go to the Veteran Archives Directory. |
Manhattan Project Veteran Archives
Archive Section
8 of 50
| Richard S. Claassen | William W. Chandler | Sanford N. McDonnell |
| Philipp H. Klein | Albert Goldstein | Robert Lyle |
| Abel DeHaan | Jack Bivans | Mary Lou Curtis |
| Raymond L. Hamilton | Mary Olipra | John G. Waugh |
8-1
| Name:
Richard S. Claassen |
Table | Location: Columbia Univ. - SAM Lab Assigned Unit: Civilian - Scientific Job/Position: Physicist Dates of Service (if Known): 6/44 to 5/46 Information Submitted By:
Archival Record #: UP-CS-CLAR-0502 | Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Richard Claassen was a research assistant at the SAM Lab. While there, he built and used fluidic systems to test for unusual leaks in diffuser tubes. He also worked on air bearing centrifuges. Richard completed his MS in physics at Columbia, then a PhD at the Univ. of Minnesota, also in physics. His career was spent at the Sandia National Laboratories where he managed the feasibility program for lay-down weapons. Shortly thereafter, he established a new department to support fundamental research. He then managed component development departments, followed by an assignment to manage materials scientists and engineers. His last 5 years he was vice president in charge of the Sandia California operation. He has served on a number of national committees and was Chairman of the Solid State Sciences Committee in 1973. |
8-2
| Name:
William W. Chandler |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN; & Wash. DC Assigned Unit: Military - SED Job/Position: Electrical Engineer - K25 Plant Dates of Service (if Known): 5/45 to 9/46 Information Submitted By: William W. Chandler Archival Record #: LA-SD-CHAW-0602 | Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
William W. Chandler enlisted in the Army at the age of
17, was assigned to the AST(R)P at Univ of Ky and Purdue Univ. After
Infantry Basic Training at Camp Robinson, AR, he returned to ASTP for
further studies at Penn State, where he was recruited for the Manhattan
Project and assigned to Oak Ridge. He worked at the Instrument Division
in K-25 until WWII concluded. As older veterans received discharges, he
was appointed Assistant First Sergeant, SED, then transferred to Manhattan
Project Headquarters in Washington in 1945. He served on the USS
Albemarle, JTF-1, during the Bikini bomb tests. After discharge, he
completed further studies at Ohio State Univ, where he received a
commission through ROTC. He re-entered the US Army as 2nd Lt, Signal
Corps, in 1948 and retired as Colonel in 1975. His service included tours
in the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and as Assoc Prof at West
Point, and qualifications as Parachutist and Army Aviator. He worked in
the Washington, DC area as a civilian Communications and Systems Engineer
until a second retirement in 1992. |
8-3
| Name:
Sanford N. McDonnell |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM Assigned Unit: Military - SED Job/Position: T/3 Mechanical Engineer Dates of Service (if Known): 4/44 to 4/46 Information Submitted By:
Archival Record #: LA-SD-MCDS-0602 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Born October 12, 1922 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Entered Princeton Univ. in 1940. Joined U.S. Army in March 1943. Received my BA in Economics from Princeton "in absentia" after getting six months of engineering in ASTP. Discharged from Army in April 1946 and entered Univ. of Colorado in Summer of 1946. Received a BS-Engineering from UC in August 1948 and went to work in St. Louis for my uncle, James S. McDonnell, the Chairman of McDonnell Aircraft Corp, which became McDonnell Douglas in 1967. While working at MDC, I earned a MS-Applied Mechanics at night school at Washington Univ. I became Chairman & CEO when my uncle died in 1980. In 1965 I became very active with our son, "Randy", in the Boy Scouts of America. I later became national president of the BSA 1984-1986. In 1988 I retired from MDC, and picked character education in the schools K-12 as my retirement career, i.e. teaching students to be honest, respectful, responsible and caring. Married Priscilla Robb in 1946 and have two children. Still very happily married.
|
8-4
| Name:
Philipp H. Klein |
Table | Location: Columbia Univ. - SAM Lab Assigned Unit: Civilian - Other Job/Position: Switchboard Operator Dates of Service (if Known): Information Submitted By: Philipp H. Klein Archival Record #: UP-CO-KLEP-0502 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Born September 14, 1926, worked as part-time switchboard operator at S.A.M.
Laboratory while a chemical engineering student at Columbia. Had been a
student at Bard College, returned there after leaving Columbia. Served in
U.S. Navy 1945-46, then attended Syracuse University: B.S. in Chemistry
(1948), M.S. (in physical chemistry, 1951) and Ph.D. (physical chemistry,
1953) degrees. Employed by GE's Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Sperry
Rand Research Center, NASA Electronics Research Center, and Naval research
Laboratory, specializing in radiation effects in solids, energy
conversion, and crystal growth. Retired in 1990, consults occationally in
materials science, also serves as Advertising Director of "The Senior
Beacon", a senior-citizens' monthly newspaper.
 |
8-5
| Name:
Albert Goldstein |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM; Chicago Met Lab Assigned Unit: Civilian - Scientific Job/Position: ??? Dates of Service (if Known): 1943 to 1946 Information Submitted By: Aurlene Andrews, Wife Archival Record #: LA-CS-GOLA-0502 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
 |
8-6
| Name:
Robert Lyle |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Military - SED Job/Position: Chemist Dates of Service (if Known): 9/44 to 12/45 Information Submitted By: Robert Lyle, Son Archival Record #: OR-SD-LYLR-0502 | Picture 1 | Picture 2 | Picture 3 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Born Sept 5, 1921, Died Jan 13 2002 Robert Lyle was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 5, 1921,.graduating from Hyde Park High School, Hyde Park, Massachusetts in 1939. He was refused enlistment in December 1941 as being too short. In January, 1943 Bob received his BS degree with Honors in Chemistry from Boston University and went to work for Simplex Wire and Cable Co., Cambridge, Massachusetts, as an Applications Engineer in their Research Laboratory until drafted.
|
8-7
| Name:
Abel DeHaan |
Table | Location: UC Berkeley; Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Civilian - Scientific Job/Position: Chemist Dates of Service (if Known): 1/42 to 3/47 Information Submitted By: Abel DeHaan Archival Record #: OR-CS-DEHA-0502 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Document 2 | Story 1 | |
Hired for Manhattan Project by Glenn Seaborg while in last year of B.S. degree at U of C Berkeley. Worked on uranium chemistry at Berkeley and Davis. Went to Oak Ridge in 43. Supervised beta salvage operations. Participated in design and shakedown of chemical plant. Went to X-10 in 45 to work on purification of irradiated uranium under "Pete" Peterson. Left project in 47 to work on detection of foreign bomb tests. Headed group that detected Joe-1 and subsequent explosions (Tracerlab). Ended career developing lithium batteries for pacemaker application. Married Frances Golemon in 46. Three children, 7 grandchildren. Widowed in 99. Enjoy travel and photography |
8-8
| Name:
Jack Bivans |
Table | Location: Wendover, UT / Tinian Island Assigned Unit: 509th CG - 393rd BS Job/Position: Asst. Flight Engineer - "Straight Flush" Dates of Service (if Known): 1944 to 1946 Information Submitted By:
Archival Record #: CG-MO-BIVJ-0602 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Born in Evanston, Illinois, August 30, 1925. At the age of 13 he became a
juvenile radio actor. Before enlisting in the Air Corps, in 1943 he had
starred in over 6000 network radio programs aired from coast to coast.
After returning to civilian life in 1946, he went to Northwestern
University, got married, had 3 children, kept on acting until dramatic
radio was replaced by television. He then started selling radio commercial
airtime. Later he moved to television station management for several
years. He retired in 2002, after working as an account executive at a
Chicago advertising agency and, later, in television production. |
8-9
| Name:
Mary Lou Curtis |
Table | Location: Dayton, Ohio Assigned Unit: Monsanto's Mound Project Job/Position: Physicist Dates of Service (if Known): 12/43 to 1945 Information Submitted By: Bill Curtis, Son Archival Record #: CP-CS-CURM-0602 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
The people I remember who were there that first winter, were Dr. James Lum (laboratory director) and Evelyn Sands, his secretary, and Dr. Malcolm Haring, later plant manager at Mound. |
8-10
| Name:
Raymond L. Hamilton |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM Assigned Unit: Military - Other Job/Position: Explosives Research Dates of Service (if Known): Information Submitted By: Raymond F. Hamilton, Son Archival Record #: LA-MO-HAMR-0502 Picture 1 | Picture 2 |Document 1 | Story 1 | |
 The
photo of Raymond L. Hamilton was taken while he was with the U.S. Army in
India in 1943. He served
in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps 705th Machine Gun Battery, which
was a separate unit defending airfields in the China-Burma-India theatre.
He was at New Malir, Allalabad, Dinjan, Tezgon, Jorhat, and the Ledo
Road. The unit was absorbed into the 87th Anti Aircraft Command, in which
he served as S2 intelligence. He developed malaria, was treated and sent
back to the U.S.. He was sent to Los Alamos in 1944 after recuperation and
served doing explosives research in the x6, m6, and gmx6 groups at "R"
site near "S" building, and later at Ancho Canyon. Their office was in
the Gamma Bldg. He was later re assigned to the Carpenty Shop at the Lab.
He married Mary Olipra, (See 8-11 Below)
a WAC also at Los Alamos, and stayed on as a civilian employee until about
1954. He is retired in Sebring, FL. |
8-11
| Name:
Mary Olipra |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM Assigned Unit: WAAC Job/Position: Mess Hall & PX Dates of Service (if Known): Information Submitted By: Raymond F. Hamilton, Son Archival Record #: LA-MO-OLIM-0502 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
 Mary
Olipra was with the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and was assigned to Los
Alamos, NM where she worked in one of the mess halls. While there
she met and married Raymond L. Hamilton (See 8-12
Above). |
8-12
| Name: John
G. Waugh |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM; Trinity Site Assigned Unit: Civilian - Scientific Job/Position: Physicist Dates of Service (if Known): 1945 Information Submitted By: Archival Record #: LA-CS-WAUJ-0402 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
John George Waugh received his BS and MS degrees from the Univ. of Missouri in the early 30's. He received his PhD from Cornell in 1935. From 1941 until 1945, we worked at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena on behalf of the Manhattan Project. He made numerous trips to Los Alamos and was present at the Trinity test on July 16, 1945. After the war he was employed by the U.S. Navy involved in Naval Ordnance Research. He was named chairman of the BuWeps Hydroballistics Advisory Committee when he was a physicist with the Propulsion Division of the Underwater Ordnance Dept. His sister recalls: "He was always guarding his briefcase with his life and would not leave it anywhere. I thought he was getting a bit "balmy" because I had no inkling of what he was working on!" |
Richard S. Claassen
Assistant Flight Engineer on the "Straight Flush" B-29 crew that
participated in the first Atomic bombing over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
