Catherine Cordoba worked at the Houdaille Hershey plant in Decatur, Illinois on the night shift of the plating department. Many women and very young people worked there, and it was hard physical work done in intense heat. She was joined by her younger brother, who was in high school and worked in the maintenance department and sister, two years older, who also worked there. However, because of strict secrecy they never discussed what each sibling did.
On nights when the temperature got up to 120 degrees or more, the foreman and others would relieve those on that line about every fifteen minutes. They would go outside to the railroad siding, where the temperature was not much lower, to “cool” off.
They were never told what we were doing or why (except that it was very important) until after the first atomic bomb was dropped. The night they went to work after the first bomb had been dropped, starting with the last employed, which included Cordoba, they were called in small groups to the foreman's office and told they had been working on the Manhattan Project and that the plant would be closing. Within a week the plant was closed except for a small maintenance crew. All factory workers received a pin, E for Excellence, for working there.
After the Project, Cordoba finished college at the University of Illinois, married a veteran, and raised two children. She later returned to graduate school, and became a clinical social worker.
Information submitted by Catherine Cordoba.