The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc.
"Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project"
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The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
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| 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
18 of 50 
| Robert H. Miller | John B. Brady | Ivan W. Behymer |
| Henry E. Fritz | James E. King | Louise T. King |
| Ella "Jo" Littleton | Glenna N. Kost | Stanley H. Robertson |
| Dr. Henry Faul | Fred L. Hughes | Claude H. Belcher |
18-1
| Name:
Miller, Robert H. |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Job/Position: Major - Chief of Priorities & Expediting Section Dates of Service (if Known): 8/42 to 8/46 Information Submitted By: David W. Miller, Son Archival Record #: OR-MO-MILR-1104 | Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
I received a commendation for my work as contact between Fulton Sylphon
Company of Knoxville, Tennessee and the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge.
I ensured that procurement of needed materials, manpower, or labor
relations did not slow the building of bellows needed for the separation
of Uranium. Working with civilians who did not have the knowledge of why
we were pushing so hard for these mechanical devices. How do you answer
"What's so important about the bellows that we can't finish them the
first of next week?" |
18-2
| Name:
Brady, John B. |
Table | Location: Hanford, WA Assigned Unit: Unknown Job/Position: Machinist Dates of Service (if Known): 12/43 to 6/60 Information Submitted By: Mike J. Brady, Son Archival Record #: HA-CO-BRAJ-1204 | Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
biography: My Dad moved from Michigan in December of 1943 to accept a job as a machinist at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. My mother came by train a few months later with two young children in tow. My Dad was proud of the work he did at Hanford. Hanford was always a mystery to us children because my Dad wouldn't talk about his job. He always said loose lips sink ships. My Dad worked with radiation and on October 31, 1959 he received high levels of exposure.
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18-3
| Name: Behymer,
Ivan W.
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Table | Location: Hanford, WA Assigned Unit: Admin. Job/Position: Payroll Dates of Service (if Known): 3/43 to 9/71 Information Submitted By: Gary Behymer; Son Archival Record #: HA-CO-BEHI-1204 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
 Photo
at left shows Ivan Behymer - Bottom row; 4th from right -
"click" to enlargeDad came out from the Dupont 'black powder' plant in Illinois to Richland, Washington (Hanford) in March of 1943. He served with Dupont, AEC and General Electric...retiring in 1971. |
18-4
| Name:
Fritz, Henry E. |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Special Engineer Detachment - K25 Plant Job/Position: Chemist Dates of Service (if Known): 1943 to 1945 Information Submitted By: Robert E. Fritz; Son Archival Record #: OR-SD-FRIH-1204 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Ed used the GI bill to finish his chemistry studies,
first a BS and MS from Illinois, and later a PhD from Minnesota. He
married Nancy Louise Downs of Proctor, MN and had four children:
Robert, Richard, Elizabeth, and Patricia. Dad worked at Union
Carbide for over 30 years, mainly as a research chemist, and has
many patents to his credit. He died in 1997 of Parkinson's
complications and Nancy died in 2004 of Alzheimer's. Nancy was a
research chemist at the U of Illinois during WWII, participating in
successful key research concerning synthetic rubber manufacture.
Dad told a story about visiting Los Alamos
and seeing someone cutting a block of something with a
handsaw. He asked what it was and the guide said "TNT". At
that moment the saw cut through the block and a chunk fell
to the floor. Dad said he was sure they had had it. Every
one else was non-chalant, and then they explained it took a
lot of energy to make it explode.
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18-5
| Name: King,
James E. |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Civilian - Y12 Plant Job/Position: Chemist Dates of Service (if Known): 2/44 to 2/47 Information Submitted By: Jean K. Haltom; Daughter Archival Record #: OR-CS-KINJ-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Specialty:
Y-12 plant, purifying uranium by electromagnetic process.
I had the opportunity with others to set up a new chemical process
by extracting uranium from other solutions
Favorite Story: I found a wife!
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18-6
| Name:
King, Louise T. |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Civilian - Y12 Plant Job/Position: Analyst Dates of Service (if Known): 6/44 to 2/47 Information Submitted By: Jean K. Haltom; Daughter Archival Record #: OR-CS-KINL-0105 | Picture 1 | Picture 2 | Picture 3 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
The Oak Ridge recruiter who came to interview me at Winthrop
College, Rock Hill, SC , where I had graduated from, painted a
beautiful picture of the mountains and beauty of Oak Ridge. When I
got there, it was all mud holes and construction!!!
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18-7
| Name:
Littleton, Ella "Jo" |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Y-12 Plant Job/Position: Unknown Dates of Service (if Known): Unknown Information Submitted By: Barbara Gail Baskette/Schons; Daughter Archival Record #: OR-CO-LITE-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Document 2 | Story 1 | |
Ella "Jo" Littleton Baskette was a very proud, hardworking, dedicated wife/mother/grandmother. She and my father became acquainted during World War II. He was a bus driver for Wilhite Bus Lines driving workers to Oak Ridge and she was one of his passengers. They married in 1947. She spoke of her job at Oak Ridge as being the best job she had up to that point. She never spoke of just what her role was there and until finding the certificate from The United States of America War Department, I never even knew that she was associated with The Tennessee Eastman Corporation. Unlike other areas of her background, she never spoke of her experiences at Oak Ridge at all. It wasn't until after her death that I found the certificate and a pin, that I realized that she had actually worked on The Manhattan Project. |
18-8
| Name:
Kost, Glenna N. |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM Assigned Unit: WAC Job/Position: Admin/Supply & Receiving Dates of Service (if Known): 4/44 to 12/45 Information Submitted By: Self Archival Record #: LA-MO-KOSG-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Worked Tech area, S building (supply and receiving). I logged in messages
from suppliers, scanned them for proper distribution, and after taking
appropriate action, filed them. Scanned them for proper distribution,
and after taking appropriate action, filed them.
I was a private first class and my friends were all non coms,
therefore I was not allowed to be a member of the NCO club. We
devised a way to get me in the club. I would tell the guard at the
door that I needed to use the latrine. Of course, he would let me in
or the girls would open a window and I would climb through. When I
was promote, I had to join the club and it wasn't nearly as much
fun.
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18-9
| Name:
Robertson, Stanley H. |
Table | Location: Oak Ridge, TN Assigned Unit: Special Engineer Detachment Job/Position: Mechanical Engineer Dates of Service (if Known): Unknown Information Submitted By: Charlotte A. Smith; Daughter Archival Record #: OR-SD-ROBS-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
I only have the memories of what my father told me.
I once wrote a book report for my high school history class on the
Manhattan Project and asked my father to tell me about it. He said
he couldn't tell me much because he was sworn to secrecy. The next
day he burned a trunk that was full of papers and documents he had
stored in the attic. They were all on the project. All I know is
that he was the mechanical engineer and worked in solitary
confinement during the day, but went to a "common house" in the
evening where he and nine other scientists were staying during their
assignment there. They did not discuss their days work with each
other.
My father was born on March 31, 1908. He graduated
from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering in 1932 and
joined the Army Corps of Engineers. He worked in solitary on the
Manhattan Project, went to Camp Century in Greenland, worked on the
Burma Road and the Panama Canal. He retired in 1972 and passed away
in 1995. He lived an interesting and fruitful life. I am proud to
be his daughter.
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18-10
| Name:
Faul, Henry |
Table | Location: Los Alamos, NM; Met Lab; Washington, DC Assigned Unit: Civilian - Scientific Job/Position: Geologist Dates of Service (if Known): 1943 to 1946 Information Submitted By: Stephanie J. Faul; Daughter Archival Record #: LA-CS-FAUH-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
My father worked with Enrico Fermi in Chicago and prospected for
uranium ore in Colorado and Utah. My father also participated in
the Bikini Atoll test, which (in my opinion) eventually killed him.
Henry Faul was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1920. In
1935 he crossed the Atlantic to study at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA; He specialized in
geology and in the dating of various types of rocks.
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18-11
| Name:
Hughes, Fred L. |
Table | Location: Hanford, WA Assigned Unit: Operations Job/Position: Reactor Operator - 100-D Dates of Service (if Known): 1943 to 1969 Information Submitted By: Arthur T. Hughes, Son Archival Record #: HA-CO-HUGF-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Biography:
Fred Hughes was transferred from Prior, OK by Dupont to the Hanford Project in 1943. Originally slated to work as a Guard, he transferred to Reactor Operations when he found there were openings there. He worked there until 1969 at several of the Reactor sites including 100-D, 100-F and 100-K. He died in Las Vegas, NV in 1989. |
18-12
| Name: Belcher,
Claude H. |
Table | Location: Hanford, WA Assigned Unit: Job/Position: Asst. Fire Chief Dates of Service (if Known): 1943 to 1945 Information Submitted By: James P. Belcher, Son Archival Record #: HA-CO-BELC-0105 Picture 1 | Document 1 | Story 1 | |
Biography:
My father with several other men from the Muskogee, Ok FD drove to Hanford Wa. in a 1933 Model A Ford. Dad was proud of his work during this time. He was promoted to Fire Chief at a powder plant in Kentucky and was there for only a short time when the war ended and he was laid off. |
