Housing

Theresa Strottman: It’s Saturday March 21, 1992, and it’s approximately 10:20 in the morning.  We are speaking with Jerry Roensch.  We thank you so much for coming this morning. Eleanor (Jerry) Roensch: My pleasure. Strottman: To start off the interview, I wonder if you could briefly tell me when and where you were born and a little […]

Theresa Strottman:  It’s Saturday, February 15, 1992, approximately 11:28 AM.  We’re interviewing Kay Manley.  We really appreciate your coming here today.   Briefly tell me when and where you were born and something about your education and training. Kay Manley:  I’m a Canadian by birth.  I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, which is a […]

Yvonne Delamater: We are interviewing Felix De Paula for the Manhattan Project video. Thanks for coming here to give us an interview.  Briefly tell me when and where you were born and something about your education and training. Felix DePaula: Actually I was born in Brooklyn, New York June 3, 1926. I graduated from vocational high school in […]

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.] 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 […]

Santa Fe was the first stop for many scientists, engineers, Women’s Army Corps, military police and all others assigned to work on the top-secret project at Los Alamos.  Lamy Ten miles from Santa Fe, Lamy is the nearest stop on the former Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Young men and women assigned to work […]

Michel: My name was Mary Lowe, L-O-W-E, and I married John Michel, M-I-C-H-E-L. Kelly: Great. Is it possible that you can look toward me? So tell me, how and when did you come to Oak Ridge? Michel: I came in November of 1944. Kelly: And what had—where had you come from? What brought you here? […]

Hanford, Washington, on the beautiful Columbia River, was the site selected for the full-scale plutonium production plant, the B Reactor. Today a popular tourist desination, the Hanford Site proved crucial to the success of the Manhattan Project.  Site Selection In December 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers worked with DuPont to establish criteria for the […]

Cindy Kelly: We’re going to start with your name: could you tell us your name and spell it? Black: My name is Colleen Black, C-O-L-L-E-E-N B-L-A-C-K.  Kelly: Terrific. Good job. Black: [Laughter.] Thank you. Kelly: All right, what we need to do is find out about where you’re from and how you happened to get […]

In 1942, General Leslie Groves approved Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the site for the pilot plutonium plant and the uranium enrichment plant. Manhattan Project engineers had to quickly build a town to accommodate 30,000 workers–as well as build the enormously complex plants. “Site X” By the time President Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project on December […]