Atomic Heritage Foundation

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly, Tom Zannes, and Thomas E. Marceau.] Tell us your name. Rex Buck, Jr.: My name is Rex Buck, Jr. R-E-X B-U-C-K J-R. What’s your Wanapum Indian name? Buck: My Wanapum Indian name is Puckhyahtoot. Can you spell that? Buck: P-U-C-K-H-Y-A-H-T-O-O-T. What does that mean? Buck: That means, like, a bunch of birds […]

Ben Diven: All right. I’m Ben Diven. That’s spelled D-I-V-E-N. I was born and raised in northern California, and I went to school in my hometown of Chico, and fortunately there was a state college there so I could start college in my hometown. I took the two and a half years of physics and […]

Rebecca Bradford Diven: All right. My name is Rebecca Bradford Diven, but I was mostly known as Becky Bradford Diven. Cynthia Kelly: Great. Well, tell us about your background and what you were doing before the war. Diven: Did you want—your outline said you wanted birth dates and where— Kelly: Okay. Sure. Diven: I was […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Dee McCullough: I go by my second name. My first name is Jessie but I go by the second name, which is Dee. D-E-E. My last name is McCullough. M-C-C-U-L-L-O-U-G-H. What was your job here? McCullough: Started out as an instrument technician, became a supervisor, instrument supervisor, and […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Paul Vinther: I’m Paul Vinther. P-A-U-L V-I-N-T-H-E-R. I have a first name, Alvin, but never went by it so everybody knows me as Paul. And I first came to Hanford on June the 26th, 1950. I remember that vividly because that was the day after the Korean War […]

Kelly: Talk about the Manhattan Project and what it was like to be part of it. So if you could start by telling your name and when and where you were born and your education and how you came to be involved. Aeby: Fine. I was born in Mount City, Missouri. My name is Jack […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Tell us your name. Steve Buckingham: Steve. S-T-E-V-E. Buckingham. B-U-C-K-I-N-G-H-A-M. (Question off camera) I thought I’d discuss this a little bit of why this location was chosen as the Hanford location, was chosen for the Manhattan District. DuPont was asked to design and build this facility but DuPont […]

Donald Trauger: Yes, I’m Donald Trauger. And Trauger is T-R-A-U-G-E-R, Trauger. My mother-in-law when we first married would say auger, Trauger so she could remember it. [Laughter.] Kelly: All right. Well, tell us how you came to Oak Ridge and how—what you did as your role in the Manhattan Project; where you were from and […]

Joe Dykstra: My name is Joe Dykstra, that’s spelled D-Y-K-S-T-R-A.  Cynthia Kelly: Ok, now you can talk about— Dykstra: I finished school with a degree in chemistry in May of ’43. I was in Iowa. During that year, I’d filled out an application for a defense job with Hooker Electrochemical Company in Niagara Falls. I […]

Cynthia Kelly: Why don’t you start, George, by telling us your name and spelling it. George Mahfouz: I’m George Mahfouz, last name is spelled M-A-H-F-, as in Frank, -O-U-Z, as in zebra. Kelly: Is that Egyptian?  Mahfouz: It’s Middle Eastern. The name is Syrian.  Kelly: Anyways, sorry, next question—tell us about your background, you know, where you went to college… […]