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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

William Sweeney

PriestHanford, WA

Manhattan Project VeteranProject Worker/Staff
Hanford church tent Listen to William Sweeney’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Monsignor William Sweeney studied for the priesthood in Worcester, Massachusetts, and came to Washington state in 1938. He went to Hanford in July of 1943, just as it was starting up. He gave Mass in a ragged tent on Sundays and in private homes on other Holy Days. Confessions took place in a closet. 

William Sweeney’s Timeline
1938 Came to Washington state

1943 Jul Started working at Hanford

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