Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Robert Krauss

Official Historian of the 509th Composite Group

Expert
Bob Krauss Listen to Robert Krauss’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Robert “Bob” Krauss is the Official Historian of the 509th Composite Group. He and his wife, Amelia Krauss, published The 509th Remembered, which profiles the service members of the 509th Composite Group and the events that surrounded the group and its role in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Krauss became interested in collecting and preserving the history of the 509th in his twenties after reading the book Enola Gay by Max Morgan-Witts. During his research, he met and befriended many of the airmen of the 509th, including Donald Albury, Ray Gallagher, Fred Olivi, Paul Tibbets, George Caron, and others.

Krauss began planning the 509th’s reunions in 2000, and has hosted the gathering for nearly two decades. Over the years, he has collected photographs, correspondence, flight suits, and other artifacts from the members of the 509th.

 

Related Profiles

Richard Rhodes

Half Moon Bay, CA

Richard Rhodes is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, The Twilight of the Bombs, Dark Sun as well as more than twenty other books.

Jennet Conant

Manhattan, NY

Jennet Conant is a bestselling American author and journalist. She is the granddaughter of Manhattan Project administrator James B.

Siegfried Hecker

Los Alamos, NM

Siegfried Hecker is an American nuclear scientist. He served as director of Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986-1997.

Karen Dorn Steele

Hanford, WA

Karen Dorn Steele is a former reporter for the Spokesman Review. Since her father was part of the press liaison for the U.