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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Raymond L. Hamilton

Explosives Research AssistantHanford, WA

Los Alamos, NM
Manhattan Project VeteranMilitary Veteran
Hamilton poses with a dog at Los Alamos

Raymond Hamilton worked in the explosives research area at Los Alamos after a distinguished career with the US Army Coast Artillery Corps 705th Machine Gun Battery. Hamilton developed malaria in the East Asia theatre forcing a return to the United States. He was sent to Los Alamos in 1944 after recuperation and did various work on explosives and in the carpentry lab. He married Mary Olipra, a WAC also at Los Alamos, and stayed on as a civilian employee until about 1954. 

Raymond L. Hamilton’s Timeline
1941 Entered military service with the US Army Coast Artillery Corps 705th Machine Gun Battery in the China-Burma-India theatre

1944 Developed malaria and is sent back to the US. Transferred to Los Alamos once healthy.

1954 Left Los Alamos after becoming a civilian employee at the facility for eight years.

Hamilton and his wife, Mary Olipra

A reference letter from J. Robert Oppenheimer commending Hamilton's work

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