11-06  James H. Porterie

Continued...

Came home to Arizona learned the Bricklayer Trade , married had one daughter managed one of the largest Masonry Contractors in the west till 1989. Took a disability retirement. Now live in Sun Lakes AZ a retirement community about 20 miles south of Phoenix. Cant do a lot but bought a computer when I retired and have had 5 more Macintosh computers. I would appreciate hearing from any of the old bunch

Responsibilities:

Guarded and moved bomb material, labs that contained material. The last few months I was Sergeant of Guard for Security Guards. Was one of the last 8 or 10 men to leave after turning LA over to Civilian Guards.

Specialty:

CIC Security Guards

Manhattan Project - Contribution:

Protecting the bomb material while in labs or moving from point to point.

Most Rewarding Experience:

Working with a small and very exceptional group of men.

Favorite Manhattan Project Story:

While in LA I spent about 3 months in the MPs. One of my first posts was 12A.M. to 6A.M. in a guard tower on the back fence of DP Site. about 4A.M. having a hard time staying awake I decided to clean my side arm so I would not have to do it when relived. Cleaned the weapon, put in the magazine, closing the slide and returned it to my holster. Some time later I took it from the holster, seeing the hammer cocked I pulled the trigger to release it. Well it fired and luck prevailed and I didn't shoot my self. The field phone started to ring everyone waned to know if I heard a shot, naturally I said no. Waiting for the sun to come up so as to patch the hole with what I could find. The sun came up and to my surprise I counted over 45 bullet holes in the tower, so I guess I was not the first to shoot the place up.