[We would like to thank Robert S. Norris, author of the definitive biography of General Leslie R. Groves, Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project's Indispensable Man, for taking the time to read over these transcripts for mispellings and other errors.]
William Lowe: I was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in the year 1920. Within a few years, my parents had moved to Westfield, New Jersey, where I grew up. But upon reaching 18, I went to college at Purdue University. It was 700 miles from home. By train, it took a day.
I would say that my 93 years have been dominated by atomic bombs, war, in particular World War II, and later by peaceful uses of atomic energy. What I will do is try to convey, more or less chronologically, what happened.
Cindy Kelly: Okay, it is Friday, February 7, 2014. We’re here in Alexandria, Virginia. My name is Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation. I’m interviewing the daughter of Colonel Heflin, and she is here. Please tell us your name.
Cathy Dvorak: Cathy Dvorak.
Kelly: And spell it please.
Dvorak: D as in David, V as in Victor, O-R-A-K.
Kelly: And Cathy, how do you spell it?
Dvorak: C, C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E.
Cindy Kelly: It is January 14, 2014, and we are in St. Louis, Missouri. And I want to ask the first question of you, which is to tell us your name and spell it.
Dunell Cohn: My complete name is Dunell Edlin Cohn, D-U-N-E-L-L. Edlin is E-D-L-I-N. And the last name is Cohn, C-O-H-N.
Kelly: Very good.
Cindy Kelly: I am Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation, and today is Thursday, November 7, 2013, and I have with me Margaret Parsons Bowditch. And my first question to her is to tell me her name and spell it.
Peggy Bowditch: Peggy Bowditch, that is B-o-w-d-i-t-c-h.
Kelly: Thank you. And can you tell me something about who you are, when you were born and where you were born?
Cindy Kelly: Okay, my name is Cindy Kelly and I am in south Denver, Colorado. It's June 25th, 2013. And I'm with Fay Cunningham. But the first thing I'm going to do is ask him to tell us his name and spell it.
Cunningham: Fay Cunningham, F-A-Y, C-U-N-N-I-N-G-H-A-M; it's a good old Scottish name.
Kelly: Hey, the Scots are great. Anyway, tell us something about your background.
Cindy Kelly: Okay, I am Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation. It is Sunday July 7th, 20 13 and I am in Scarborough, Maine, with Gwen Groves Robinson. And the first question I am going to ask her is to tell us her name and to spell it.
Gwen Robinson: To spell my name? It is Gwen Groves Robinson just as you said. G-R-O-V-E-S, R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N.
Cindy Kelly: Okay. I am Cindy Kelly from the Atomic Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. It is May 2, 2013 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I have with me Herb Depke. Could we start with you saying your full name, Herb, and spelling it?
Depke: My full name?
Kelly: Full name.
Depke: Herbert Walfred Depke, H-E-R-B-E-R-T, W-A-L-F-R-E-D, D-E-P-K-E.
Tell us your name.
Irénée du Pont, Jr.: My name is Irénée du Pont, Jr. That's spelled I-R-E-N-E-E D-U-P-O-N-T, comma junior. It's like the girl's name, Irene, which means peace, and Irénée is the French equivalent of the male Irene. Means peace.
Tell me how you are related to Crawford Greenwalt.
Gladys Evans: I’m Gladys Ellen Wimberley Evans, G-L-A-D-Y-S E-L-L-E-N W-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y E-V-A-N-S.
Kelly: Terrific. Okay, now if you could start with telling us, you know, where you were born and raised and how you got to Oak Ridge.
