National Museum of Nuclear Science & HistoryAlexandra Levy: We’re here on December 28, 2012 with Evelyne Litz. Please say your name and spell it.
Evelyne Litz: Evelyne Litz, E-V-E-L-Y-N-E, L-I-T-Z.
Levy: So where are you from originally?
Litz: Chicago.
Levy: And how did you become involved in the Manhattan Project?
Harris Harold Levee: My name is Harris Harold Levee, L-e-v-e-e. My birthdate is August 9, 1919. I grew up in Sheepshead Bay doing the—playing a lot of sports, and did go to high school at Brooklyn Technical High School, where I studied to be an engineer. And from Brooklyn Tech, I went to a school called Cooper Union in New York City, which was a school where you had to pass a tremendous examination in order to get into the school because the school was free. All you had to do was pay for your own books.
Justin Piel: Hi, I am Justin Piel and I am in Palm Harbor, Florida interviewing Dr. Lawrence Litz for a school biography project.
Lawrence Litz: Good afternoon. I am Dr. Litz. I am glad to be able to discuss some of the work that I did many, many years ago on the atomic energy program. And I think Justin has some questions he was interested in getting answers to.
Piel: So, what is your full name?
William J. Wilcox, Jr.: My name is Bill Wilcox. Oak Ridge, Tennessee resident for sixty-three years. Ever since—pretty much since the beginning of Oak Ridge. Can’t imagine a better calling, a better career, a better place to live, better people to work for, better people to work with, or to be associated with. Very important contribution to our country that I was privileged to have a very tiny, small part of. It was great.
[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.]
Tell us your name.
Lawrence Denton: I'm Lawrence Denton, later named Larry when I came to Hanford. L-A-R-R-Y, D-E-N-T-O-N.
How did you get to work on the Manhattan Project?
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 something about your early education and training.
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.
[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 started. And I'd been in the Navy, went back to college, and came down here for a job, and at that time GE was running the plant and we were known as “tech grads.”
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 how you got involved.
Tinian Island was the launching point for the atomic bomb attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. One of three islands in the Northern Marianas, Tinian is less than forty square miles in size and located approximately 1,500 miles south of Tokyo. The round-trip flight from Tinian to Tokyo took B-29s an average of twelve hours. This proximity to Japan is one reason Tinian served as the headquarters of the 509th Composite Group.
