Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Gerald Cole

Truck DriverTinian Island

Wendover, UT
Manhattan Project VeteranMilitary Veteran

Gerald Cole served with the 1st Ordinance Squadron in the 509th Composite Group at airfields in both Wendover, Utah and Tinian Island in the Pacific. At the latter location, he helped unload the USS Indianapolis when it reached the island, carrying the enriched uranium that was eventually used in "Little Boy," the codename given to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Additionally, Cole was assigned to drive the truck taking Little Boy on a trailer to be loaded onto the Enola Gay B-29 aircraft.

Information submitted by Steve Cole.  

Gerald Cole's project area pass on Tinian Island, dated late-July 1945. 

Related Profiles

M. Lawson

Hanford, WA

Seymour L. Mintz

Los Alamos, NM

John Tempka

Los Alamos, NM

John Tempka (1923-2017) was an American engineer. Tempka was born in Boydsville, Ohio. He was studying at the University of Detroit when he was recruited to join the U.

Robert W. Kinson

Los Alamos, NM