Last week marked the 74th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944. On the anniversary, the
Washington Post
’s Retropolis section
discussed
how technology, such as the Higgins boats used for amphibious landings, helped the D-Day landings succeed and led to Allied victory in World War II.
Manhattan Project veteran
Russell Gackenbach remembered
hearing the news of D-Day on his base: “I had to serve as service officer of the day. Word came in, 'The landing has occurred.' So I had the pleasure to call the base commander about 2:00 in the morning, getting a bawling out for waking him, until I told him, 'D-Day started.'"
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- Manhattan Project Sites News
- Ed Westcott Nominated for Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Manhattan Project Spotlight: Jack Schubert
- History Article Roundup
- "Voices of the Manhattan Project"
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Manhattan Project Sites News
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Before World War II, the town of White Bluffs, WA, had a bank, hotel, newspaper, ice cream parlor, and other businesses and places where the community would gather. In 1943, the Manhattan Project requisitioned the town. Today, the White Bluffs bank (pictured, photo courtesy of Dan Ostergaard) is the only remaining structure from the original townsite. Before its forced abandonment, the bank had two employees and was robbed on at least one occasion.
The Department of Energy recently completed a multi-year rehabilitation project on the bank, which had suffered significant deterioration over the years. In May, the rehabilitation project was awarded the 2018 Washington State Historic Preservation Office's Valerie Sivinski Award for Outstanding Rehabilitation. For more about the bank and the project, please see
this
Tri-City Herald
article
. To visit the bank and other pre-war Manhattan Project sites, sign up
online
. Tour registration is also open for the 2018 season to visit the
B Reactor
. Check out AHF’s “Ranger in Your Pocket” programs on the
B Reactor
and
pre-war Hanford
before your visit!
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In Santa Fe, the New Mexico History Museum opened a new exhibit on June 3, “Atomic Histories.” The exhibit includes two installations by Santa Fe artist Meridel Rubenstein, “Oppenheimer’s Chair” and “The Meeting.” According to the
Albuquerque Journal
, the installations, “comprised of photos, videos, glass and steel, ground the exhibition of artifacts and photographs documenting the creation of the atomic bomb.” Several interviews by AHF will also be available for visitors to watch in the exhibit, which is open through May 2019. Read further down for more articles about the exhibit.
On June 1, the building at 101 Bus Terminal Road in Oak Ridge, TN was mostly demolished. After the Manhattan Project, it served as a security communication center. The building was connected by radio to Building 9213, which stored uranium-235 at the Y-12 Plant for about a year. 101 Bus Terminal Road was later used by the military and the Oak Ridge Police Department. For more, please see
Demolished building once helped protect city, enriched uranium at Y-12
.
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Westcott Nominated for Pres. Medal of Freedom
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The
Knoxville News Sentinel
reports that photographer Ed Westcott (pictured) has been nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Westcott, who turned 96 earlier this year, was the official US Army photographer at Oak Ridge, TN during the Manhattan Project.
Westcott was one of the first people hired to join the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge. In thousands of photographs, he documented the construction, operations, and people of the “Secret City.” Westcott’s images captured life in Oak Ridge during World War II, depicting everything from women welders to baseball games.
The nomination was officially submitted by U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), whose district includes Oak Ridge, in 2017. Oak Ridge historian and AHF Board member
D. Ray Smith comments,
“I think we in Oak Ridge should do all we can to get Ed recognized at the highest level in our land because of his great artistic and historic contribution to the world-changing Manhattan Project. He far surpasses any other photographer who has documented the history of the Nuclear Age.”
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The United States’ highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy in
Executive Order 11085.
It recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
Westcott’s nomination was also
covered by WBIR.
For the full article on Westcott (pictured in 1949, image courtesy of the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office),
click here
.
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Manhattan Project Spotlight: Jack Schubert
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Jack Schubert (pictured) was an American chemist who worked at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory and Oak Ridge, TN during the Manhattan Project. After the war, Schubert conducted radiochemical reports on the effects of radiation from the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the
Marshall Islands
for the U.S. Navy. During his career, he worked with the Atomic Energy Commission, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Ford Foundation in Argentina. He also taught Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Schubert promoted peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and his scientific research was published in numerous journals.
In 2018, Ann Schubert, Jack’s daughter, donated her father’s document collection to the Atomic Heritage Foundation. The Jack Schubert Collection consists of hundreds of documents, including correspondence, certificates, newspaper articles, pamphlets, photographs, patent papers, and Schubert’s publications, ranging from the mid-1940s to the late 1970s.
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One of the highlights of the collection is a telegram (pictured) sent by General Leslie R. Groves to the University of Chicago on August 15, 1945, asking for those involved with the project to maintain secrecy: “Official declaration of cessation of hostilities with Japan does not in any way alter security limitations on release of information on the atomic bomb project.” Another is a letter that Linus Pauling, a chemist and activist who won the Nobel Prize in both Chemistry and Peace, wrote to Schubert with comments on a proposed paper.
The full Jack Schubert collection is housed in the AHF offices. A variety of the documents, newspaper articles, and photographs have been digitized. The digitized documents, as well as more information on Schubert, can be viewed on his
AHF profile page
. To read the full article about the Schubert Collection,
click here
. We are grateful to Ann Schubert for her generous donation.
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A different kind of ‘atomic tourist’ visits Hanford
: I
n
Crosscut
, journalist Jenny Cunningham describes the visit of Mitsugi Moriguchi, a
hibakusha
or survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, to Hanford and Richland, WA in March. (Pictured: the ruins of Urakami Cathedral after the Nagasaki bombing.)
Death becomes us
and
'
The whole nuclear cycle
’:
The
Santa Fe New Mexican
and the
Albuquerque Journal
review the new “Atomic Histories” exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum. The exhibit explores the impacts of the Manhattan Project on New Mexico and the state’s nuclear history.
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Hiroshima survivor in Lowell to honor POWs killed in blast:
On Memorial Day, Hiroshima survivor Shigeaki Mori visited Lowell, MA for the dedication of a memorial to 12 American prisoners of war who were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. Mori has spent decades researching the men's lives and contacting their families.
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"Voices of the Manhattan Project"
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Gordon Garrett
moved to Oak Ridge in 1944, at the age of seven. His father worked at the Y-12 plant; his mother was active in the Oak Ridge community. In this interview, Garrett recalls his childhood in the “Secret City” and describes some of the challenges residents faced and how they overcame them. He also discusses the problems of racial segregation and tensions between Oak Ridge and surrounding areas.
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Harris Mayer
is an American physicist. A student of both Edward Teller and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, he worked at Columbia University during the Manhattan Project. He later worked at Los Alamos on the hydrogen bomb. In this interview, Mayer discusses his close friendships with other scientists, and shares stories about Teller, Frederick Reines, and Richard Feynman.
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William J. Nicholson
grew up in Chicago, with a strong interest in aviation and aeronautics. During the Manhattan Project he worked as an assistant at the Met Lab. He then served in the Army Air Force. In this interview, Nicholson discusses his childhood and school years spent in Chicago. He then explains how he joined the Manhattan Project out of high school. He recalls the secrecy of the work, and describes working with and machining uranium and other metals.
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Roger Stover
is a nuclear engineer and U.S. Army veteran. In this interview, Stover discusses his work conducting radiation tests during nuclear tests at Eniwetok and at the Nevada Test Site. He recalls the overwhelming experience of witnessing both hydrogen bomb tests and fission nuclear weapon tests. Stover also describes his nuclear reactor work with the Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel Division in Pittsburgh, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory, and at Hanford Site.
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Thank you for your continued interest in our work. Let us know what you think of our new newsletter design! Most importantly, please consider
making a donation
. With your help, we can conduct more oral history interviews and preserve these valuable first-hand accounts for future generations. Many thanks for your support!
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President
Atomic Heritage Foundation
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Atomic Heritage Foundation
910 17th Street, NW, Suite 408, Washington, DC 20006
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