Security & Secrecy

Russell E. Gackenbach was a navigator in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He flew on both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions. His crew flew aboard the Necessary Evil, which was the camera plane for the Hiroshima mission. Gackenbach photographed the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima. His crew flew again during the Nagasaki mission as the weather reconnaissance […]

Martin Sherwin: In terms of the people who were invited in, I know [George] Kennan. John Manley: That was for the Halloween meeting. Sherwin: Yes. Do you remember anything about what Kennan said? What the impression he left was? Manley: Let me try to be specific. I think I could give you some idea of […]

Louis Hempelmann:  I do not think the people who came later were ever as close as the people who were there at the beginning. Martin Sherwin: Did most of the people who came later, were they junior people? That is, younger? [Enrico] Fermi came later. Hempelmann: [George] Kistiakowsky came later. Sherwin: He did? When you […]

Martin Sherwin: Good afternoon, this is an interview with John Manley at the Red Onion restaurant, January 9th, 1985, Los Alamos, New Mexico. John Manley: —whether you want to start that yet or not? I’m not at all sure in what way I can help you. Sherwin: Well, I would like to write a book. […]

Martin Sherwin: What was the set-up at Los Alamos, in terms of your relationship to the director [J. Robert Oppenheimer] and how you operated? Louis Hempelmann:  I was working directly under him. I started out with my wife as a half-time secretary, and the technician I brought with me from St. Louis, and Kitty worked […]

[To see an edited version of the interview published by S. L. Sanger in Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford, Portland State University, 1995, click here.] Roger Fulling: Well, to identify myself, I was the Division Superintendent of Construction responsible – I reported to the Assistant Chief Engineer. I was responsible for procurement from the […]

[To see an edited version of the interview published by S. L. Sanger in Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford, Portland State University, 1995, click here.] Roger Fulling: During the very busy days of constructing the military explosive plants in 1942, General [Leslie] Groves visited the DuPont Company. Arrangements were made for him to meet […]

[To see an edited version of the interview published by S. L. Sanger in Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford, Portland State University, 1995, click here.] Roger Fulling: The DuPont Company, like many other chemical companies, was highly dependent upon the materials of construction, proper materials of construction for their facilities – equipment, piping, […]

[To see an edited version of the interview published by S. L. Sanger in Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford, Portland State University, 1995, click here.] Clare Whitehead: I got raised to Tech Sergeant, so he immediately got raised to Tech Sergeant. He said, “Well, we figured it was too bad we […]

Cindy Kelly: Okay. I am Cindy Kelly. I’m here in Albuquerque. It is Wednesday, October 12. Hal Behl: Okay. I’m Harold Behl. B as in boy, e-h-l. Known as Hal. Kelly: Okay. I just want to have you tell us when and where you were born and a little about your childhood. Behl: Well, I […]