Elvert Theodore “Junior” Nelson was born on September 18, 1926 in Hordville, Nebraska. After graduating from Hordville High School in 1943, Junior first went to work in agriculture and later at the Ordnance Plant in Grand Island, also known as the Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant, which was responsible for pouring bombs and high explosive artillery shells.
When Nelson enlisted in the US Army, he was assigned to the explosives division at the S Site at Los Alamos. He also worked on the Radiological Safety Section of Joint Task Force One during Operations Crossroads, the two nuclear tests conducted in July 1946 at Bikini Atoll. Nelson’s team was responsible for measuring the radiation produced by explosions on the people working there. Nelson himself witnessed both historic explosions. He was honorably discharged from the Army on November 8, 1946.
After the war, Nelson studied diesel operations at Southeast Community College in Milford, Nebraska which at the time was called the Nebraska State Trade School. While in school, he was called to service by the United States Marine Corp. He served as an aviation ordinance man with fighting squadron VMF-113 until 1951. Nelson went on to work for Missouri Valley Construction and the Nebraska Machinery Company before returning to Southeast Community College as an instructor. He taught in the Diesel department for over 22 years, retiring in 1988.
He died in Central City, Nebraska on March 26, 2014 at 87 years old.