John Mench

Pattern MakerLos Alamos, NM

Oak Ridge, TNTrinity Site

Manhattan Project VeteranMilitary VeteranSpecial Engineer Detachment

Listen to John Mench’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

John Mench was assigned to the Special Engineer Detachment at Los Alamos where he worked as a pattern maker, creating wooden casts for metal work at the site’s foundry.

Related Profiles

Don F. Mester

Y-12 Plant

Don Mester worked for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at the Y-12 Plant.

Colonel Franklin Matthias (1908 – 1993) was the officer-in-charge at the Hanford site. Matthias, a civil engineer, had been a close associate of General Groves since the beginning of the Manhattan Project, and was asked to review sites in the West.

Oscar J. Thigpen

Tinian Island

Oscar J. Thigpen served as a corporal in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He was a member of the ground crew regularly assigned to the B-29 Top Secret.

Oscar C. Nicholson

Tinian Island

Oscar C. Nicholson served in the 1st Ordnance Squadron.