Working Conditions

[At top is the 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. For the full transcript that matches the audio of the interview, please scroll down.] Book version: I was working in mathematical biophysics at the University of Chicago. […]

Ray Stein: Okay. Ray Stein, S-T-E-I-N. I came from Erie, Pennsylvania originally. Are we started now?  Cindy Kelly: Yes, we started. Tell me your story. Stein: Okay. I had originally tried to join the Navy. I was at Penn State at the time. I tried to join the Navy, which—they rejected me—didn’t have enough teeth, […]

Susan Gawarecki: My name is Susan Gawarecki, spelled G-A-W-A-R-E-C-K-I, and today is April 3, 2013. I am at the home of Bill Tewes. And Bill, thank you for taking time to tell us about your life. To get started, would you please say your name and spell it. William E. Tewes: My name is William Edward […]

Richard Shepard: I’m Richard Shepard, S-H-E-P-A-R-D. Cindy Kelly: Okay. And now why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you came to the Manhattan—come into the Manhattan Project, and how that happened. Shepard: I graduated from high school about three or four weeks after I was seventeen in 1943. I had been an […]

John Shacter: John Shacter, S-H-A-C-T-E-R.  Interviewer: And your age? Shacter: My age? Eighty-four. Eighty-four and a half, going on 85! Interviewer: And how did you end up in Oak Ridge, in the Secret City? Shacter: Well, I’m going to make it fast, but I was born in Austria, spoke no English when I got here […]

[Interviewed by Cindy Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Tell us your name. Harry Kamack: I’m Harry Kamack. K-A-M-A-C-K.   Tell us where you’re from. Kamack: Well, I was born and raised in Connecticut, and when I was in high school my father was transferred to Atlanta. So I went to Georgia Tech, got a degree in […]

Bob Schwerin: Hello. Michael Vickio: Hi, Bob? Schwerin: Yes. Vickio: Michael Vickio, how are you doing? Schwerin: Pretty good. Vickio: Were you expecting my call? Schwerin: Yes. Vickio: Okay. Didn’t want to interrupt anything that was going on.  How you been doing? Schwerin: Hold on just a minute, I want to move a comfortable chair […]

Carolyn Stelzman: Carolyn Stelzman and from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Interviewer: And have you always lived here in Oak Ridge? Stelzman: No. I came from Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Interviewer: And do you just want to tell your story of how you came here to Oak Ridge? And what you did? Stelzman: Okay. Well, in May of 1944, […]

Cindy Kelly: I am Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation. And today is Sunday, March 24th, 2013. And we are interviewing James A. Schoke. But first I want him to tell us his name in full and spell it.  James Schoke: James Asher Schoke, J-A-M-E-S A-S-H-E-R S-C-H-O-K-E. Cindy Kelly: Great. Now next hard questions, are what […]

Cindy Kelly: All right, I’m Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation, and today is Wednesday, March 20, 2013. And what I’d like to do is first have you introduce yourself. Tell me your name and spell it. William Schneller: Well, my name is William F. Schneller, and it’s W-I-L-L-I-A-M, F, S-C-H-N-E-L-L-E-R. Kelly: Terrific. You did very […]