How the Last Piece of Little Boy Got to Tinian Island

Transcription

How the Last Piece of Little Boy Got to Tinian Island
1
“From Us in Oak Ridge to Tojo”-NDG
THE STORY OF LT. NICHOLAS DEL GENIO’S AUTOGRAPHED DOLLAR BILL
WM. J. WILCOX JR.
PREPARED FOR THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND ENERGY FOUNDATION
OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE
JUNE 15, 2000
2
HOW THE LAST PIECE OF “LITTLE BOY” GOT TO TINIAN ISLAND
The Story of Lt. Nicholas Del Genio’s Autographed Dollar Bill 1 2
From Us in Oak Ridge to Tojo”-NDG
William J. (Bill) Wilcox Jr., Oak Ridge City Historian
Retired Technical Director for the Oak Ridge Y-12 & K-25 Plants
[During the Manhattan Project (from May 25, 1943) a Jr. Chemist, Tennessee Eastman Corp., Y-12 Plant]
The glass-framed one-dollar bill with its 34 autographs hung for years in Nick and Martha Del
Genio’s living room in Chevy Chase, MD, a treasured remembrance of Nick’s part in the sudden
ending of World War II. 3
Nick died in 1995 at 88, and as they had agreed, Martha made a gift of the treasured bill to the
American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) in Oak Ridge, the town where they met and
where the story of this treasured souvenir began. 4
Martha Farrar met Nick Del Genio when she worked in Oak Ridge as a dietician in one of the
school cafeterias of that secret city during WWII. i Nick was an Army officer, and they married
in 1949, four years after the end of WWII and the events described here. She learned from him
after the War was over that Nick’s assignment was to serve in Military Security. In those days at
Oak Ridge, Nick was an old-timer, having been on the job of helping to guard the secrets of the
atomic bomb project since 1943. ii By mid-1945, he was 39 years old and a 1st Lieutenant, trusted
enough to serve in the highly secret and vital job of delivering the precious product of the Oak
Ridge Y-12 Plant to Los Alamos. His home base was the “Castle” at the Townsite in Oak Ridge,
the nickname civilians called the Headquarters of the Army’s Corps of Engineers that stood
where the present DOE Offices are. [See Figure 2.]
The reason for the huge wartime effort at Oak Ridge 5 was to try to do something never before
attempted, the separation of well over a hundred pounds of the light form of uranium, the rare U235 isotope from the heavier, 139 times more abundant U-238 form. Two huge plants were built
1
Copyright Wm. J. Wilcox, Jr., 2000.
Explanatory notes are numbered and appear on each page. References are lettered and appear at the end
of the text. During WWII, the materials and the various locations were never spoken of except in secret
codes, Los Alamos was Site Y, etc. Post-war names are, however, used in this paper for clarity.
3
Airmen during WWII often collected samples of the currency of the countries they flew to and taped them
together end to end into long rolls they liked to keep as souvenirs. Sometimes they got their crews or
pals to autograph them. They called them “short snorters”. Nick called this bill his version of a “short
snorter”. In a PX or pub, one veteran said the man with the shortest roll had to buy the snorts.
4
Martha’s donation letter to AMSE was dated September 3, 1997. Gordon G. Fee, President of the AMSE
Foundation, visited her in Chevy Chase, MD May 27, 1999 and she was very pleased to learn of the
Museum exhibit plans. Martha died, age 81, after a long bout with lung cancer, August 24, 1999. Nick’s
death was March 21, 1995. Both died in Maryland.
2
5
Oak Ridge’s wartime cost: the city + Y-12, K-25, S-50, and X-10 cost $1.106 billion, more than half of the total cost
of the whole Manhattan Project. Wartime peak population of the city was 75,000, Y-12- 22,500, K-25- 12,000, and
X-10- 1,234. ($ from USED report For Your Info, 1946), plants info from Robinson, The Oak Ridge Story, p.87, et
al.
3
in Oak Ridge, first the Y-12 Plant for which construction started in early 1943 and operations
began in early 1944, and the second K-25 Plant which followed about a year behind. Each
involved untried methods of isotope separation, and because of the wartime urgency, were built
without going through a pilot plant trial step to work out the "bugs" in the process. It was hoped
that at least one of them could be made to produce the highly enriched U-235 needed in time to
make a difference in this war.
There were great uncertainties with each and there was a real urgency of beating Germany and
Japan to the bomb, if indeed any country’s scientists and engineers could build such a thing. But
the great technical difficulties were overcome in each method and both processes were eventually
Figure 2. Headquarters of the U.S. Engineer District, Manhattan Project, in Oak Ridge. “The Castle”
where Col. K. D. Nichols and staff, including Lt. Del Genio worked. 1945 or 1946. J. E. Wescott photo.
made to work very successfully. The huge Y-12 plant with its 22,000 workers was producing
enough highly enriched U-235 in the spring and early summer of 1945 to enable the weapon
makers at Los Alamos to put together a bomb to bring the awful War to an end. [See Figure 3.]
4
Figure 3. The Y-12 Plant was the first plant in the world to separate the isotopes of uranium in
pound quantities. Above is an overview of the Y-12 Plant, ca. 1945, three large “Alpha
Calutron” buildings left foreground. Below: one of 9 oval shaped “Alpha tracks” of 96
“Calutrons;” the separator “Ds”, lying on their face plates in left foreground.
OAK RIDGE TO LOS ALAMOS
5
Nick received orders on Monday, July 23, 1945 to travel out west to Site Y, a wartime code name
for Los Alamos Laboratory. He very probably was asked to take with him one of the shipments
of the super-valuable U-235 product from Y-12, standard procedure because he and several others
assigned to “The Castle” had been making those train trips with increasing frequency. The
precious green powder (UF4) product of all this wartime effort at Oak Ridge was not dangerously
radioactive, though not at all safe if brought near other sizeable quantities because of the danger
of a nuclear criticality reaction. It was carried from Oak Ridge to Los Alamos in a leather
briefcase chained to the courier’s wrist. iii The briefcase was not removed till they were safely
inside the fence on that mesa out in New Mexico. Inside the very ordinary looking briefcase was
a wooden box holding the “green salt” packed in two coffee-cup-sized, heavily gold-plated,
nickel cans with a cadmium sheath.
Figure 4. 1st Lt. Nick Del Genio – October 1945 (Photo by J. E. Westcott)
On Wednesday, July 25, now in Los Alamos with another Courier Mission accomplished, Nick
opened his next orders and learned he was not going back to Dogpatch/Shangri La (code nick-
6
names workers called Oak Ridge during the War). He had been singled out for a secret, toppriority courier duty: the responsibility of guarding and escorting one of the three C-54 cargo
planes which carried the last highly enriched uranium-235 metal parts for the first atomic bomb.
The main parts of the "Little Boy" U-235 bomb had already been shipped to Tinian aboard the illfated cruiser USS Indianapolis – the gun barrel and the other U-235 parts. But Los Alamos did
not have enough surplus U-235 from Y-12 to have it all finished and ready to ship on July 16th, so
the last parts had to be delivered by air as soon as they were ready. The Indianapolis left San
Francisco with that main shipment the same day as the Trinity test at Alamagordo, July 16th, and
dropped anchor off Tinian on July 26th. This island, 6,000 miles across the Pacific, was now
turned into a huge air base from which our heavy B-29 bombers could reach the 1,400 miles to
the mainland of Japan. It had been wrested from Japanese soldiers less than a year before and
turned into an air base in an amazingly short time.
Urgency was the word of the day. Every day, newspapers and radio reports were full of the
horror of the war in the Pacific and the dread of more horror yet to come. Drastic and widespread
firebombing of Japanese cities had not shaken the Japanese military’s commitment to their cause.
6
The dreadful prospect was that the only way to force the Japanese Empire to surrender was to
actually invade the islands, and that invasion was planned for November 1945. The prospect was
for a repeat of the fierce fighting and awful casualties on both sides that occurred with the U.S.
invasion of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the other Japanese-held Pacific islands. Estimates of U.S.
losses were up to 250,000 and Japanese losses 5 to 20 times that many. The bomb was a secret
known but to a few; worked on for years in the hope of putting an end to the War just as soon as
possible.
LOS ALAMOS TO TINIAN ISLAND
On Tuesday, July 24th, the Los Alamos metallurgists and machinists finished making the last
three parts needed for Little Boy, and on Wednesday these three parts were separately packed into
heavy steel containers, each two feet tall and a foot wide. Nick was one of the three military
security officers given charge of one of the three precious parts. 7 They were told, “Do not let
this container out of your sight until it is delivered on Tinian!” In a heavily armed and guarded
convoy, the three containers were escorted off the mesa down the road to Santa Fe and then to
Albuquerque where at Kirtland Air Force Base each was separately loaded into its own huge C54 cargo plane for the flight to Tinian. These pieces were sent separately to minimize the loss in
case of an accident en route.
Nick’s C-54 aircraft left Kirtland Air Force Base on Thursday the 26th of July. Early that same
day the cruiser USS Indianapolis had dropped anchor a half mile off Tinian Island, having
brought the Little Boy’s gun assembly and U-235 bullet in a fast 10-day voyage from San
Francisco. Also that same day, President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill, and Marshall Stalin
issued the Potsdam Declaration from East Germany; giving Japan a final ultimatum to surrender
or to face concerted and overwhelming attacks on their homeland.
6
The fire-bombing raid on Tokyo, March 10, 1945, for example, killed more than 100,000, injured a
million people, and devastated 16 sq. mi. of that city. (Rhodes, Making. . .,page 599 ff.)
7
According to Knebel and Bailey, the three officers were: Major Claude C. Pierce, Jr., 1LT. Nicholas Del
Genio, and Capt. Charles O’Brien. Lt. Commander Francis Birch, a Harvard professor in civilian life,
was assigned to accompany Major Pierce. He had been a group leader for making and testing Little Boy,
and Dr. Oppenheimer saw them off with a parting plea to Birch: “Make it work!” Page 135.
7
Nick’s C-54 stopped for refueling in San Francisco, then again in Hawaii, and then again on
Kwajalein Island. He was the big plane’s passenger and his cargo was very tiny compared to the
usual full loads of military supplies. He later reported he was the target of many questions and
the Base Commanders each place he stopped tried to get him to explain why he had such a
terrifically high priority! iv He had left New Mexico Thursday, and sometime in the wee hours
after midnight Saturday, he landed on Tinian with his small, but critically important cargo.
Figure 5- Map of the Pacific, showing Nick’s route
to Tinian Island.
TINIAN ISLAND
During the following week, the final product of a billion dollars of top priority efforts of tens of
thousands in Oak Ridge over the last 2.5 years was nearing the final moment when the orders to
carry the bomb to the enemy might arrive from Washington.
A team of over 50 top scientists, weapons engineers, and technicians from Los Alamos had been
on Tinian for a week now (called Project Alberta) and spent the last days of July assembling and
8
checking out the two bombs. On Tinian, the top boss of the Los Alamos team was Navy Captain
William S. “Deke” (by some authors "Deac") Parsons who back at the Lab was the Associate
Director of Weaponization. His Deputy on Tinian, and head scientist, was Dr. Norman F.
Ramsey, formerly a Professor of Physics at Columbia. v
On Wednesday, August 1, Parsons and Ramsey met with Gen. Thomas F. Farrell, Gen. Groves
top commander for the Tinian operation who had arrived the day before, and with Admiral W. R.
Purnell who was the Navy's top man on Tinian. This quartet was “christened” by the men out
there the “Tinian Joint Chiefs of Staff." vi At that first meeting of these chiefs, the Los Alamos
team was able to report that the U-235 weapon, Little Boy, was assembled, tested, and ready.
Col. Paul Tibbets’ 509th Composite Group of hand-picked B-29 fliers and maintenance men of
the Army Air Force had been on Tinian since early May. vii The 509th for a year had been
developing the special B-29 aircraft and flying techniques needed for this delivery mission. This
week they were still flying training runs to Japan, 1,400 miles away, each dropping a single
dummy bomb called a “pumpkin” (the same size and shape of the plutonium bomb called “Fat
Man” loaded with high explosives) on various Japanese cities as practice to make sure they
understood all the operational and navigational problems that might arise.8
[See Figure 6.]
Figure 6 – B-29 Bombers on their "hardstands" (parking places) on Tinian Island. The 509th Composite
Group commanded by Col. Paul Tibbets was just a small part of the hundreds of B-29s marshaled on
Tinian.
8
Tokyo was 1,450 air miles from Tinian, 100 miles closer than from Guam; one reason Tinian was selected
as the major B-29 base according to Groves, page 278.
9
The awaited orders from the Secretary of War’s Office in Washington came the next day,
Thursday the 2nd, for the 509th Composite Group to make the drop on August 6, but only if the
weather permitted visual sighting, and on one of four cities. Hiroshima led the list.
Gen. Groves, over a month before, had prepared for the fact that once the bomb or bombs had
been dropped and announced to the world by the President, there would be a tremendous demand
for the stories about when and where the work was done, and much of the three year secrecy
about his Manhattan project would be “out”. He was bound and determined that the technology
(the know-how) would remain secret, but to make certain the story was told as well as possible he
enlisted the help of one of the top newspaper science-writers in the country, Pulitzer Prize winner
William L. Laurence of the New York Times.
Laurence was "cleared" and reported for duty in Oak Ridge on May 10, 1945. He was given
tours of the secret facilities all over the country, listened to many briefings, and then came back to
the Ridge to prepare stories about places, people, and Plants. viii He was promised a seat on one
of the two escort B-29s that would accompany the strike plane on the first operation over Japan.
One of those escort planes was to carry scientific instruments to measure the strength of the blast,
the radiation, and other data. The other escort B-29 was a photographic plane sent along to
document the event.
Laurence got to Tinian three days later than he was supposed to because of foul-ups in his flights
from the U.S. He arrived about mid-day Sunday August 5th, the day before the Hiroshima strike,
but because the detailed personnel assignments and plans were already made, Gen. Farrell could
not let him go along on that first mission. ix He did go on the Nagasaki mission.
Laurence wrote one of the first books to come out about the new "atomic age," called Dawn Over
Zero, and in that book tells about the end of his trip out to the Pacific: x
“I was traveling under sealed orders and did not know until I arrived at Guam on the
morning of August 5th what my final destination was. At Guam I was met by 1st Lt.
Nicholas Del Genio of Military Intelligence and Security, who informed me that he
was to take me to Tinian.” xi (emphasis added, wjw).
It was only a short flight from Guam to Tinian, 125 miles NNE, and they arrived early afternoon.
Laurence realized that he was several days late, but nevertheless was upset to hear from Gen.
Farrell that he would not be allowed to go on the mission to deliver the first bomb.
It was ready and stored in a temporary building they called “the assembly hut” where the Los
Alamos scientists had assembled the components that had been brought to Tinian. Knebel and
Bailey’s book No High Ground provides one of the most detailed descriptions of the Tinian
operations. They tell about that Sunday afternoon when Nick and Bill Laurence arrived:
“Little Boy swung from its chain hoist in the bomb assembly hut. A selected group
gathered about it: physicists, 1st Ordnance squadron men, Military Police, security
agents, the brass. Notes were scrawled on the bomb in crayon. Most were good luck
to the Tibbets crew or bad luck to the empire and Hirohito.” xii
Nick told a newspaper reporter when he got back home that he was one of those who visited the
hut, and that he scribbled the following message on the bomb’s tail fin and then initialed it: xiii
10
“From Us in Oak Ridge to Tojo”
NDG
Nick was referring to the Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of War, General Hideki Tojo,
who took office in October of 1941 and sped his country into war against the U.S. with the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Three years later, Tojo effectively took over the
whole government of Japan in 1944 as a dictator when the U.S. forces in the Pacific started
reversing the long series of Japanese successes. After the war he was tried for war crimes,
attempted suicide but recovered, and was finally convicted, then hanged in 1948. xiv
At 2:30 PM Sunday afternoon, Bill Laurence and the rest watched the procession which
transported the shrouded 10.5 ft. long, 2.5 ft. diameter, 9,700 lb. bomb xv from the assembly
building out to the pad where it was loaded up into the B-29 which only that day had been named
the Enola Gay by the command pilot for the next day, Col. Paul W. Tibbets, in honor of his
mother.
After supper, the seven flight crews and ground crews involved in the first mission to be flown
the next day were given their initial briefing by Col. Tibbets: departure times, the four possible
target cities, weather forecasts, communication codes, flight plans, rendezvous points, and all the
other many details that had to be attended to. 9
At midnight he gave them their final briefing, and told them of the power of the atomic bomb that
had been tested at Alamagordo, NM in mid-July. This was the first official and detailed
information they had been given about their secret mission. Having been teased by the other
airmen on Tinian who daily made the long flight to Japan to drop full loads of high explosive
bombs on the Japanese while the 509th's very special "Silverplate" B-29s only took just one
“pumpkin” over on each flight, they were finally able to appreciate the reason for their months of
rigorous training, discipline, and all that secrecy.
After the traditional middle of the night supper given aircrews leaving in the night, a large crowd
gathered on the field where the Enola Gay was waiting. Major Charles W. Sweeney had worked
closely with Col. Tibbets as a pilot for years in Europe and had been chosen by Tibbets to be the
pilot of the Hiroshima instrumentation escort plane as well as pilot of the strike plane for the
Nagasaki flight. Years later Gen. Sweeney wrote his memoirs and described what happened next
that Sunday night (now the early morning hours of Aug.6th):
“As my crew stowed their gear and food and checked their positions in the airplane, I
jumped into a jeep and drove over to Paul Tibbets’ hardstand. I wanted to wish him luck.
The scene I encountered was surrealistic. There had to be two hundred people, in
addition to the ground and flight crews, standing in an island of intense light. Mobile
generators were powering all forms of illumination: stands of high intensity shop lights,
floods, popping flash bulbs, and klieg lights like you’d see at a grand opening of a movie or
at the Academy Awards ceremony. Army photographers and film crews, Military Police,
technicians, senior officers, and civilians who I presumed were the scientists milled
about. If there was some order to the scene, I didn’t see it. I caught sight of Tibbets in
9
For example, three B-29s were to take off one hour early to go on ahead and visually confirm the weather
at each possible target city; then the main flight of three B-29s were to leave: the Enola Gay, the
instrumentation plane, and the photography plane. Still a seventh B-29 was a contingency flying to Iwo
Jima in case of problems with the strike plane.
11
conversation within a group. He looked fully engaged and I decided it was best to let him
be.” xvi
As the time for the 2:45 AM take-off approached, the entire crew got aboard, including Capt.
Deke Parsons, the Los Alamos weapons expert, who that day had decided that for safety sake he
should arm the weapon in flight, not before takeoff. Our man Nick was on-duty at the Enola Gay
as the flight crew boarded, and three different chroniclers of the event described what happened:
“Very few people knew that shortly before he entered the Enola Gay, Capt. Parsons
borrowed an automatic pistol from Lt. Del Genio. He was the only man who knew all
the mysteries of the atom bomb and he was not going to permit himself to be taken
alive.” W. L. Laurence, in Dawn Over Zero. xvii
“Every man wore a pistol and holster, as required by regulations. Deac Parsons, who
usually thought of everything, had forgotten to draw a weapon from supply. Nick Del
Genio, the security agent, un-strapped his Colt .45 automatic and gave it to Parsons.
Good-bys and good lucks said, Tibbets waved from the pilot’s window and taxied the
Enola Gay to her runway.” Knebel & Bailey, in No High Ground. xviii
“Each of us was equipped with a standard service pistol. When Deak Parsons arrived
at the plane without his weapon, he borrowed one from Nick Del Genio, a security
officer.” Paul W. Tibbets, in Return of the Enola Gay. xix
Martha Del Genio said that when Nick got his discharge from the Army, his record showed that
he was missing that .45 pistol which Parsons had never returned. He had to reimburse the
Government for it.
The flight to Japan and back was “textbook”, as practiced and prepared for more than a year.
Nick along with everyone else anxiously awaited the return of the mission. Two months later,
back in Oak Ridge, he gave an interview to the local newspaper, The Oak Ridge Journal, which
published a number of articles from Army officers who had recently returned from the Pacific.
Nick’s interview, Oct. 25, 1945, included brief comments about the plane’s departure at 2:45
AM, then this about the outcome of the Enola Gay flight to Hiroshima:
“About 9:30 AM the same morning they (those waiting on Tinian) got the message by
prearranged code that the mission had been successful, and the expected time of
arrival of the returning plane. Brass Hats began to gather at the field, with Generals
Twining, Spaatz, Farrell, and Giles among those present, as well as Admiral Purnell.
“Tibbets is famous for accuracy,’ Lt. Del Genio said, ‘and his plane arrived on the
minute. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as he stepped from the
plane.
“Interrogation followed the mission. It was a great thrill to listen to the eyewitness
accounts, which described the deadly accuracy and the destruction. Meanwhile
thousands of propaganda leaflets were written in Japanese and dropped over the
cities, describing the devastation of the first bomb, and what might be expected if
others were dropped.
“We saw the second mission off (Aug. 9th, Nagasaki). Then I stayed on to assist in
maintaining necessary security of all information pertaining to the bomb. We were so
12
close to the picture that the events seemed rather prosaic to us, and we were quite
surprised when copies of home town newspapers came trickling in to men on the base,
and we could see the headlines which had been created.” xx
When Nick came home to Oak Ridge after two months on Tinian it was a joyous return
to a world now at peace. The local newspapers heard of his return and he was
interviewed by reporters for the Oak Ridge Journal, the Knoxville Journal, and the
Knoxville News-Sentinel. Each published pictures of him and his story about escorting
the final part of the bomb out to the Pacific Island. The two Knoxville papers told the
story about his treasured souvenir – his much autographed dollar bill.
The News-Sentinel’s story is headlined “Atomic Bomb ‘Short Snorter’ is Lt. Del Genio’s
Top Relic.” The October 29, 1945 article includes this report about how and when he got
the autographs:
“He got the names on his own private ‘short snorter’ bill this way: After the
bombs had been dropped the pilots, navigators, bombardiers, of the two planes
along with the top-ranking Army and Navy officers and scientific personnel, held
a special press conference. At that meeting Lt. Del Genio suddenly thought of
what a scoop he would have if he obtained the signatures of all present.
“‘I didn’t have a piece of paper and didn’t have time to get one,’ he said. ‘So I
just pulled out a dollar bill and passed it down the line.’”
“He declined to reveal all the names on the bill, since some of them are men who
have not been publicly connected with the atomic bomb project. There are 21
names, however and they include:. . .” (Then follows a list of these six full names
and titles: Tibbets, VanKirk, Ferebee, Sweeney, Beahan, and Van Pelt.)
The article concludes with this paragraph, revealing a little of the frustration of Knoxville
reporters of that day with the secrecy out at Oak Ridge.
“Lt. Del Genio, back at Oak Ridge now [Oct. 29, 1945], is no longer with the security
division of the Army. He is now with the legal division but, true to his training in
the days when he wouldn’t say anything and wouldn’t permit anyone else to say
anything about Oak Ridge, he tells nothing more about Oak Ridge, he tells nothing
more about his activities.”
Since Nick talked with these reporters just after he returned from Tinian and everything was
still fresh in his memory, this explanation of how and when he got his autographs I regard as the
most credible.
***
13
THE SIGNATURES ON THE DOLLAR BILL
The Face of the Bill (Washington Portrait Side) (See Figure 7)
On the Washington portrait side there are eleven signatures, ten clearly visible, one very faded
and only partially visible. Looking at the bill as seen by the people signing it, there are seven
"above" Mr. Washington's portrait, four "below".
Face1.
Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. = Col. Paul W. Tibbets. The pilot of the Enola Gay and
commander of the 509th Composite Force. The signature is in the top margin, faded
almost from sight. Martha Del Genio in her letter of donation to the AMSE said Col.
Tibbets had signed “in the upper white margin on the face of the bill.” When the bill was
photographed, enlarged, and carefully studied the characteristic T and the distinctive two
bbs of his signature are apparent.
F2. Theo. J. Van Kirk = Captain Theodore J. (“Dutch”) Van Kirk. He was the Enola Gay
Navigator. xxi Van Kirk visited Oak Ridge and spoke about his experiences at the AMSE,
June 9,10, 11, 2000. He verified the authenticity of his signature. Laurence said he was
from Northumberland, PA. xxii In August, 1945 he was 24 years old.
F3. Thomas W. Ferebee = Major Thomas Ferebee, the Enola Gay Bombardier. “A handsome
Errol Flynn type in the official portrait with his hand on Van Kirk's shoulder,” says
Rhodes in describing him. xxiii Laurence says he was from Mocksville, NC. xxiv When
Tibbets in 1944 was given the ultra-secret job of assembling the hundreds of experienced
airmen to train for the atomic strike mission, Tom Ferebee was the first person he chose.
The second was Van Kirk. Each had flown many missions with Tibbets over Europe and
North Africa. 10
F4. Mel G. Irwin = A military security officer. This identification was made for the AMSE by
“Dutch” Van Kirk (F2) in Feb. 2000, after Gordon G. Fee sent him a photograph of the
bill and asked him to verify his autograph. He told us that Irwin was a member of the
Intelligence Group and after the War became a banker in the St. Petersburg, FL area.
F5. William L. Laurence = This is the renowned Science Editor of the New York Times who
Gen. Groves enlisted to help write the story of the Manhattan Project for the public.
Laurence was in New Mexico for the Trinity shot at Alamogordo July 16th, and visited
Los Alamos, Hanford, and Oak Ridge earlier that summer. Although Laurence did not fly
on the Hiroshima mission, he did go in an escort plane on the Nagasaki run. Nick
escorted him to Tinian, Sunday, August 5, 1945. xxv
F6. Peer de Silva = Lt. Col. Peer de Silva, the Head of Security at Los Alamos. Groves in his
book Now It Can Be Told states that de Silva was the person who carried "the final small
key component of U-235 for the bomb" from Los Alamos to Tinian. xxvi This of course
10
Van Kirk and Tibbets both attended Ferebee’s funeral in Mocksville, NC where he died in
March 2000. (The Selman Field Beacon, Vol.8, No.3, spring, 2000, Monroe, LA.)
14
Figure 7 – The Face (Obverse) Side of the Bill
15
conflicts with the story Nick told many times, and with the Knebel and Bailey detailed
account, and with Hewlett and Anderson’s official history of the Manhattan Project.
F7. K. D. Nichols = Col. Kenneth D. Nichols, District Engineer of the MED in charge, reporting
to Groves, of all Operations of the Manhattan Project except for Military Operations and
Delivery (which was under Gen. Farrell (R22). Nichols had his headquarters in Oak
Ridge, later was promoted to General. In his book The Road to Trinity, Nichols says "I
was busy in my office early on Aug. 6th while awaiting news about the Hiroshima
mission." So he was one of the people who signed the bill for Nick later.
F8. Charles W. Sweeney = Major Charles W. Sweeney, the Pilot of Bock's Car, the B-29 that
dropped Fat Man, the plutonium implosion weapon on Nagasaki, Aug. 9th. xxvii Sweeney
later became a Major General and authored the book (still in print): "War's End, An
Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission." He was 24 years old when
signed up by Col. Paul Tibbets (F1) in 1944, and worked closely with him. xxviii
F9. Kermit K. Beahan = Captain Kermit K. Beahan, the Bombardier on the Nagasaki run. xxix
Laurence says Beahan was from Houston, TX and that his 27th birthday was on the very
day of the Nagasaki mission. xxx
F10. James F. Van Pelt, Jr. = Captain James F. Van Pelt, Jr., Navigator on the Nagasaki Run.
xxxi
Laurence says he was from Oak Hill, W.Va. xxxii
F11. James W. Hubly = A member of the 509th Composite Group attached to Headquarters.
This is another identification made by Major “Dutch” Van Kirk (F2) in February 2000
when Gordon G. Fee, President of the AMSE Foundation sent him a photograph of the
bill and asked him to verify his own autograph. The “Maj” following his signature stands
for Major, and it is interesting that he is the only one of all the military signing this bill
(including two Generals) who indicated his rank.
The Reverse Side (See Figure 8)
Viewing the Bill as the people signed it, there are 23 autographs on this “back” side of the bill:
20 on the green engraved portion, 3 in the margins. Most of the signatures on this side are of
scientists and weapons experts belonging to the group called Project Alberta at Los Alamos.
The Los Alamos group went to Tinian July 20th and left Sept. 17th. xxxiii, The group had a group
portrait taken on Tinian which was published, among other places, in Dr. Robert Serber's book,
“Peace and War”, on page 118. It is captioned: "The Los Alamos Team at Tinian Island for the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Strikes, Aug. 1945. (Photograph and Names Courtesy of Harold
Agnew).” This photo is of particular interest since it identifies 50 of the Los Alamos team. It
pictures 19 autographers of Nick’s dollar bill! The Los Alamos team was designated by the
military on Tinian as the First Technical Service Detachment, and they wore Army uniforms and
were given Army ranks so they would blend in with the other military on Tinian. (See Figure 9)
16
Figure 8– The Back (Reverse) Side of the Bill
17
Figure 9 – The Project Alberta Team on Tinian from Los Alamos responsible for assembling, checking,
and making ready those two different kinds of nuclear weapons that had been rushed to completion in less
than three years by so many thousands of people all over the USA in the face of tremendous, never before
solved technical and scientific challenges. The first of the two to be used was the so-called gun-assembled,
U-235 weapon.
This photo came from the DOE archives in Oak Ridge at AMSE. But the very same photo appears on page
118 of Bob Serber’s 1998 book: “Peace and War” (see references), and the credit there given is to Harold
Agnew, not only for the photo, but for the identifications as well. Serber’s version is a cropped one; this
shows more people on each end.
Autographers of Nick’s dollar bill: numbered counting from left to right:
1st row-- #3 R. Warner; #5 N. F. Ramsey; #6 E. Doll; #9 M. Bolstad
2nd row-- #1 C. Baker; #2 P. Morrison; #3 W. Penney; #7 Adm. Purnell; #8 Gen. Farrell; #9
W.S.Parsons; #10 F. Ashworth; #11 R. Serber; #13 B. Waldman; #14 L. Alvarez;
3rd row-- #6 R. Schreiber; #11 H. Agnew; #12 L. Johnston; #13 E. Stevenson
4th row-- # 1 M. Camac
18
R1. L. R. Groves (in top margin) = Major General Leslie R. Groves, the commanding General
of the entire Manhattan Project. In the text of his book Now It Can Be Told, Groves
makes it clear that he was in Washington Aug. 4th and 5th xxxiv, and not on Tinian, so this
is an autograph Nick obviously got later, and this may explain why it is in the margin.
Groves’ deputy on Tinian Island responsible for delivery operations was Gen. Thomas
Farrell (R22).
R2. Roger S. Warner, Jr. = This is the "Warner" who Groves reports was the head of the Fat
Man Assembly Team from Los Alamos. xxxv It is interesting that Groves, when writing
about military people in his book always gives their exact titles and their full names, but
in reporting on the Los Alamos team who actually developed the bombs and went to
Tinian to put them together just gives their last names, and then in a footnote!
R3. E. C. Stevenson = Lt. Commander Edward Stevenson, US Navy, in charge of the Los
Alamos Electrical Detonator Team, a reserve officer and a scientist.
R4. M. Camac = Morton Camac. He is in the Project Alberta photo, and Agnew said he was a
theoretical physicist. xxxvi
R5. P. Morrison = Dr. Philip Morrison, Physicist. Rhodes says he was a theoretical physics
student of Oppenheimer, xxxvii who then worked at Los Alamos on the bombs and came to
Tinian to help assemble Fat Man. Groves in his listing of the Los Alamos team says
Morrison was, together with Baker (R18), Head of the Pit Team. xxxviii Knebel & Bailey
tell us he was then 29 years old. xxxix
R6. Lawrence Johnston = Lawrence (Larry) H. Johnson. In Laurence's book, Dawn Over Zero,
he says that Lawrence H. Johnston came from Hollywood and "spent a lot of time
reading the Bible." xl Sweeney (F8), the pilot of the instrumentation escort plane,
wrote: "On the (Hiroshima) mission (in my B-29, Great Artiste) were Drs. Luis Alvarez,
Lawrence Johnston, and Harold Agnew who would monitor the instruments from
positions in the rear compartment. These men were among the most brilliant people in
the world. I felt honored to be in their company." xli Knebel and Bailey reported that
Johnston then was 27 years old. xlii
R7. Bernard Waldman = Laurence writes of Prof. Bernard Waldman of Notre Dame, a brilliant
young physicist. xliii Groves reports incorrectly that Waldman and Alvarez, the Heads of
the Project Alberta Observation Team, flew in the instrumentation escort plane
Waldman did fly on the Hiroshima mission, but was in the photographic plane of the trio,
the B-29 Necessary Evil piloted by Capt. Geo. Marquardt. xliv
R8. Bob Serber = Dr. Robert Serber, brilliant young Los Alamos theoretical physicist who in the
first lecture series at Los Alamos in April 1943 described the program that they were
planning to undertake to build the atomic bombs. xlv After the Japanese surrender,
Serber and Penney (see next autographer) walked the streets of both Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. 11 xlvi There are many references to him as "Bob".
R9. W. G. Penney = Dr. William G. Penney, British member of the target selection group and a
scientist team member at Los Alamos. xlvii
Rhodes says he was a British
11
Rhodes, Dark Sun, states that Serber directed the design of the uranium fission bomb and includes a
photo of Serber in Tokyo right after the War, page 255.
19
hydrodynamicist. xlviii Bill Laurence (F5) said he received the awaited word that Gen.
Farrell approved his going on the Nagasaki mission while drinking beer with Dr. William
G. Penney, later Sir William, who was one of the eminent British scientists at Los
Alamos. Laurence added that Prime Minister Winston Churchill had designated Penney
and Group Captain Leonard Cheshire as observers of the atomic bomb in action. xlix
R10. L. W. Alvarez = Dr. Luis W. Alvarez, Physicist, Berkeley, a major contributor to many
aspects of the Manhattan Project starting at Berkeley where he was a protégé of Ernest O.
Lawrence. At Los Alamos, he designed the exploding wires for the Pu implosion at
Trinity, developed the yield measuring instrumentation for the escort plane at Hiroshima,
rode in that plane, etc. l Alvarez in 1968 won the Nobel Prize in Physics. 12 li
R11. H. M. Agnew = Dr. Harold M. Agnew. He was a member of the Tinian team and flew in
the Hiroshima instrument plane, the Great Arstiste, to measure the force (yield) of the
explosion. (See footnote 11) Some years later he became the third Director of Los
Alamos National Laboratory.
R12. M. M. Bolstad = Milo Bolstad. A member of the Los Alamos Tinian team, identified from
their group picture. Agnew says he was an electronics expert. lii
R13. N. F. Ramsey = Dr. Norman F. Ramsey, Physicist, was the Scientific and Technical
Deputy of the Project Alberta team from Los Alamos. He was the second in command of
the Tinian team liii Knebel and Bailey quipped, “Ramsey knew everybody and checked
everything with a cheerful, efficient confidence that did as much for morale as the 509th
habit of promoting seventy-five enlisted men and six officers every month.” liv In 1989,
Ramsey, at Harvard University, won the Nobel Prize in Physics. lv
R14. W. S. Parsons = Navy Captain William S. "Deke" Parsons. (In several texts spelled
“Deac.”) To Gen. Groves and Gen. Farrell, Parsons was the “Officer in Charge” of the
scientific team on Tinian. Back at Los Alamos he was an Associate Director to
Oppenheimer responsible for making military weapons out of the physicists ideas for
releasing energy from the atomic nucleus. He made the decision to personally fly on the
first mission and to arm the bomb in flight to avoid any possible catastrophe if the B-29
crashed on take-off. lvi He later was promoted to Rear Admiral.
R15. E. B. Doll = Dr. Edward B. Doll was a member of the Los Alamos Tinian team, identified
from the Los Alamos group picture. He was the expert in charge of the fusing and firing
team. lvii
R16 F. L. Ashworth = Navy Commander Frederick L. Ashworth. He was the Los Alamos
expert responsible for the Fat Man plutonium implosion weapon on the Kokura/Nagasaki
flight, 8/9/45. lviii In Groves list of the key Los Alamos scientists at Tinian, he lists
Ashworth third in the list from the top (Parsons, Ramsey, Ashworth) with the title
"Operations Officer and Military Alternate to Parsons”. lix
R17. E. E. Kirkpatrick = Col. Elmer E. Kirkpatrick. The very effective Army engineer who
laid out and built the site on Tinian for Tibbet's 509th Composite Group starting Apr. 3,
1945. lx He was later Commander in Chief at Oak Ridge after Col. Nichols.lxi
12
A photo of Alvarez and Agnew in their Tinian military uniforms is given in Rhodes, Dark Sun, opposite
p. 254.
20
R18. C. P. Baker = Dr. Charles P. Baker. This is the "Baker" who Groves reports was, together
with Morrison, were joint heads of the Los Alamos Pit Team. lxii In the Team photo, he
stands right beside Morrison. In his book Men and Atoms, Laurence tells a fine story
about Baker. "Shortly after the Nagasaki mission, I was present when Gen. Spaatz,
commander of Pacific Strategic Air Forces, and several other high ranking Air Force
officers were being guided by young Dr. Charles P. Baker of Cornell University through
the Bomb Assembly building on Tinian. They were shown, among other things, the
container in which the explosive material (the plutonium core) for the Nagasaki bomb
had been delivered. Spaatz said, ‘You mean the fuse came in this that set off the chain
reaction.' 'No', said Dr. Baker, 'this was it, the entire explosion came from the material in
this container.' Spaatz said: 'Young man, you may believe it, I don't.' " lxiii
R19.
Leonard Cheshire = The United Kingdom’s Group Captain G. Leonard Cheshire.
Laurence in his book Men and Atoms, describes the parade of vehicles escorting Little
Boy from the assembly shed to the Enola Gay. lxiv He wrote that following the truck with
the bomb came a Navy car with Gen. Farrell and Adm. Purnell, then a jeep including
"Group Captain G. Leonard Cheshire, a famous Royal Air Force pilot who was then a
member of the British military mission to the U.S." Laurence says Group Captain
Leonard Cheshire was designated by Winston Churchill to be an observer of the atomic
bomb in action for Great Britain. lxv
R20. R. S. Schreiber = This is Raemer Schreiber, a Los Alamos physicist. After the War he
became Alternate Division Leader for Weapons Engineering at Los Alamos. Rhodes
mentions him being on Tinian. lxvi
R21. W. R. Purnell (in bottom margin at end of list) = Rear Admiral W. R. E. Purnell, the Navy
member of the Military Policy Committee, and a senior confidant of Gen. Groves. He
was at Tinian. Groves said Purnell was the first person to suggest to him that two bombs
would end the War. lxvii
R22. T. F. Farrell (in right margin above the word AMERICA) = Then Brig. General Thomas
F. Farrell, Deputy to Gen. Groves, was in charge of the final Manhattan Project
operations at Tinian. lxviii He had been responsible from the early days of the Project for
“Military Application and Delivery” for the Manhattan Project.
R23. Sheldon Dike = he wrote his name over the words ONE DOLLAR. After study of a much
enlarged version of the bill, it was recognized that the initials of the first and last names
were S and D. Serber's book on the Los Alamos team was consulted and there was found
the name Sheldon Dike, as someone “not pictured”. lxix The rest of his signature on the
bill is entirely consistent with this name. Dike, on Tinian, was the Los Alamos expert in
charge of the Aircraft Ordnance Team. Agnew said he was a coordinator between LASL
and the Department of Defense. lxx
***
21
EPILOGUE – A WORD ABOUT NICK AND MARTHA
Nicholas Del Genio was born in 1906 in Brooklyn, NY. While very young, his father, a carpenter, moved
his family back to Italy to live for a few years and then moved them back to Brooklyn where Nick grew up. 13
He went to prep school at Mount Hermon, Massachusetts, and put himself through college at Yale University.
While at Yale he was a member of their boxing team. After winning his B. A. degree, he stayed on at Yale
and received a Law Degree. During the 1930s he taught school in Massachusetts. lxxi
Some time after Pearl Harbor he joined the Army and was commissioned as an officer and was assigned to
the Security Section of the Manhattan Project.
He was stationed in Oak Ridge, the Headquarters of the Manhattan Project’s operations and was chosen to
escort one of the small but vital pieces of U-235 metal for the first nuclear weapon from Los Alamos to Tinian
Island in the far Pacific Marianna Islands, a trip of well over 6,000 miles.
When he returned two months later, he was assigned to the Legal Section of the U.S. Engineering District
(USED) in Oak Ridge where he was Claims Judge Advocate and legal officer. He later resigned his
commission and went to work for the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington.
In 1949 he and Martha Farrar, who he had known in Oak Ridge, were married at her home near Shelbyville,
TN. He and Martha immediately left for Milan, Italy. Martha’s wedding announcement puts it this way:
At present he is with the Atomic Energy Commission, in Washington, DC, where he is an
administrative officer. He has been appointed as Executive Secretary for the American
Chamber of Commerce with offices in Milan where the couple will reside following their wedding.
His obit suggests this assignment lasted two to three years and adds that he had another tour of duty in Italy
later:
In 1952, he came to Washington as security and intelligence officer for the Atomic Energy
Agency. He was a State Department intelligence officer in Rome from 1964 to 1966, and then
returned to Washington, retiring from the State Department in 1972.
In the Washington area, they lived for many years in Chevy Chase, MD, and he had a long and successful
career with the Central Intelligence Agency, with whom he likely was associated from its beginning. Nick
died at age 88 at the Collingswood Nursing Home in Rockville, MD after a long battle with Alzheimer’s
disease, and was buried with his wife’s family near Shelbyville.
His sole surviving sister-in-law in 2000, Sara Farrar Dodson of Shelbyville, TN commented to the author: “I
believe Nick was the most patriotic person I’ve ever known. Never have I heard him criticize an elected
official nor any policy of the United States.” lxxii
Martha Frances Farrar was a native of Bedford County, TN, born in 1918, just outside of Shelbyville in the
community of Flat Creek.
13
Nancy Del Genio, a niece, gave me this info 5/22/00.
22
She attended Maryville College, and graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. After
graduation, during WWII, she took a position as hostess and administrator of the Enlisted Men’s Club at
Camp Forrest in Tullahoma, TN, not far from Shelbyville. Some time later (~1943 or 1944) she went to work
at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, TN where she worked as a dietician and cafeteria manager for
the Oak Ridge Schools until her marriage.
While in Oak Ridge, Martha lived in 1946/1947 with two teacher friends, Dorothy and Mildred Shawhon, in
an E-2 Apartment at 116 Vandalia Road near New York Avenue. Later the Shawhon sisters left Oak Ridge
and Martha moved to another E-2 at 103 West Vance Road. 14
She met Nick while here in Oak Ridge, probably in October 1945 15 and they married Sept. 10, 1949. They
were married in the Methodist Church of Flat Creek, TN which is nine miles south of Shelbyville, TN.
Bernard Menke of Oak Ridge (Security) was best man for Nick, and ushers included Howard Woodside
(lawyer, later judge) of Oak Ridge. lxxiii See her wedding announcement on page 23 and a photo of the
newlyweds taken at their wedding.
Among the wedding guests from Oak Ridge were Francelle Buckminster and her friends Nancy Talbert
Thomas and Peggy Marrs, all teachers at ORHS; Ruth Reagor; and Ellen Woodside.
Elaine Trauger was a school dietician (ORHS) like Martha and she and husband Don knew both Martha and
Nick while they were in Oak Ridge. Francelle Buckminster kept in touch with Martha through the years.
During the years Nick and Martha lived in Washington, she taught school, Home Economics, and she and
Nick were active volunteers in various activities including their Wesley United Methodist Church. They had
a beach home they loved to visit at Rehoboth Beach, DE. Martha and her sister Sara Farrar Dodson of
Shelbyville, TN were quite close and even by some folks regarded as twins. They both loved to travel, and
took many two-week vacation trips to other countries over the years. Sara said one year Martha was
determined to go on a safari in Kenya, and Sara could not go so Martha went by herself and had a grand time.
About two years after Nick’s death, Martha donated the autographed dollar bill that Nick so treasured to the
Museum in Oak Ridge, the American Museum of Science and Energy, as they had discussed and agreed.
She succumbed after a long battle with lung cancer, dying on August 25, 1999, at age 81. She is buried with
Nick and many Farrar relatives in the Rosebank Cemetery in the Flat Creek Community near Shelbyville,
TN.
The museum’s exhibit of the treasured dollar bill was opened to the public on Saturday, June 10th, 2000 and in
attendance representing the family were Mrs. Sara Farrar Dodson and her son Eddie Dodson. A private
reception and exhibit preview the day before was attended by two of Martha’s nieces, Mrs. Bonita F. Eblen
and Mrs. Betty F. Hord, both of Murfreesboro, TN.
***
14
15
Mrs. Francelle Buckminster of Oak Ridge, long friend of Martha’s, gave me this information, June, 2000.
Mrs. Sara Farrar Dodson, Martha’s sister, Shelbyville, TN, told me she was with Martha at the time
Martha first met Nick! Sara came to Oak Ridge for a visit and they both went to Gatlinburg with two
other girls to celebrate Sara’s birthday. They met Nick in the company of three other officers while they
were there. She could not now be sure if it was ’45 or ’46.
23
The Wedding Announcement in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, September 1949
24
MR. & MRS. NICK AND MARTHA FARRAR DEL GENIO, SEPTEMBER 10, 1949
25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is most grateful to Martha’s nephew Jack Farrar of Alexandria, VA; to Nick’s niece
Nancy Del Genio of Elmont, New York; to Martha’s sister Sara Farrar Dodson of Shelbyville,
TN; and to Martha’s long-time Oak Ridge friend Francelle Buckminster of Oak Ridge, each of
whom who shared information about Nick and Martha.
The staff of the American Museum of Science and Energy has been very supportive. The author
particularly thanks Tom Walker, AMSE exhibit designer, who not only produced the fine exhibit
for the Del Genio dollar bill, but who helped this author with the graphics of this paper.
Very special thanks to Gordon G. Fee, President of the AMSE Foundation, who introduced me
over a year ago to the puzzle of the bill’s history and suggested I might help identify the several
signers! He encouraged and facilitated my research as did Kaye Johnson, Program Manager for
AMSE, ORNL. This work was done for them.
REFERENCES CONSULTED (IN ORDER OF PUBLICATION DATES):
1.
Del Genio, Nicholas, "Lt. Del Genio Personally Marked First A-Bomb", Interview for the Oak Ridge Journal
(newspaper), October 25, 1945, page 3.
2.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, “Atomic Bomb ‘Short Snorter’ is Lt. Del Genio’s Top Relic”, October 29,
1945.
3.
Laurence, William L., Dawn Over Zero, The Story of the Atomic Bomb, Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1946, 274 pp.
4.
Robinson, George, O., The Oak Ridge Story, Southern Publishers, Kingsport, TN, 1950, 181 pp.
5.
Laurence, William L., Men and Atoms, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1959.
6.
Knebel, Fletcher and Charles W. Bailey, II, No High Ground, NY, Harper & Row, 1960; Reprinted
Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1983, 272 pp.
7.
Hewlett, Richard G. and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946, The Univ. of California Press,
University Park, 1962, 766 pp.
8.
Groves, Leslie R., Now It Can Be Told, The Story of the Manhattan Project, Harper & Row, NY, 1962, 462
pp.
9.
Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1986, 886 pp.
10. Nichols, Kenneth D., The Road to Trinity, William Morrow, Publisher, NY, 1987.
11. Richard Rhodes, Dark Sun, The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1995.
12. Sweeney, Charles W. with James A. Antonucci and Marion K. Antonucci, War's End, An Eyewitness
Account of America's Last Atomic Mission, Avon Books, NY, 1997, 290 pp.
26
13. Serber, Robert, Peace and War - Reminiscences of a Life on the Frontiers of Science, Columbia University
Press, NY, 1998, 241 pp.
14. Tibbets, Paul W., Return of the Enola Gay, Mid Coast Marketing, Columbus, Ohio, 1998, 339 pp.
***
Version of 06/20/00
END NOTES TO THE TEXT, (SEE FULL TITLES ABOVE)
i
Francelle Buckminster Interview, Oak Ridge, 1999.
Oak Ridge Journal, Oct. 25, 1945, page 3.
iii
KOJohnsson, Oak Ridger, Feb. 8, 1984
iv
Oak Ridge Journal, Oct. 25, 1945, page 3.
v
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 478.
vi
Knebel & Bailey, page 140.
vii
Groves, page 283.
viii
Robinson, page 101.
ix
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 206.
x
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 206.
xi
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 206
xii
Knebel & Bailey, page 149.
xiii
Oak Ridge Journal, Oct. 25, 1945, page 3.
xiv
Encyclopedia Britannica, “Hideki Tojo”.
xv
Rhodes, Making. . ., page 701.
xvi
Sweeney, page 163,164.
xvii
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 210, 211.
xviii
Knebel & Bailey, page 157.
xix
Tibbets, page 213.
xx
Oak Ridge Journal, Oct. 25, 1945, page 3.
xxi
Rhodes, Making . . . , page 704, 710.
xxii
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 148.
xxiii
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 704.
xxiv
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 148.
xxv
Laurence, “Dawn Over Zero”, page 206.
xxvi
Groves, page 307.
xxvii
Rhodes, “Making. . .”, page 739.
xxviii
Knebel & Bailey, page 82.
xxix
Groves, page 242.
xxx
Laurence, “Dawn Over Zero”, page 230.
xxxi
Groves, page 242.
xxxii
Laurence, “Dawn Over Zero”, page 230.
xxxiii
Groves, page 353.
xxxiv
Groves, page 319.
xxxv
Groves, page 282.
xxxvi
H. Agnew, letter to Fee, June 2000.
xxxvii
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 274.
xxxviii
Groves, page 282.
xxxix
Knebel & Bailey, page 129.
xl
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 212.
ii
27
xli
Sweeney, page 160.
Knebel and Bailey, page 146.
xliii
Laurence, Dawn Over Zero, page 212.
xliv
Serber, page 108.
xlv
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 460.
xlvi
Rhodes, Dark Sun, page 19.
xlvii
Groves, page 268.
xlviii
Rhodes, Dark Sun, page 19.
xlix
Laurence, “Men and Atoms”, page 153.
l
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 655, 709.
li
World Almanac, 1995, page 316.
lii
H. Agnew, Letter to Fee, June 2000.
liii
Groves, page 282.
liv
Knebel & Bailey, page 140.
lv
Dr. Joseph McGrory, Oak Ridge; World Almanac, 1995, p. 316.
lvi
Groves, page 310.
lvii
H. Agnew, Letter to Fee, June 2000.
lviii
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 739.
lix
Groves, page 282.
lx
Rhodes, Making. . . , page 679.
lxi
Robinson, page 100.
lxii
Groves, page 282.
lxiii
Laurence, “Men and Atoms”, page 160.
lxiv
Laurence, “Men and Atoms”, page 146.
lxv
Laurence, “Men and Atoms”, page 153.
lxvi
Rhodes, “Dark Sun”, page 201.
lxvii
Groves, page 311 and 342.
lxviii
Groves, page 342.
lxix
Serber, page 118.
lxx
H. Agnew, Letter to Fee, June 2000.
lxxi
Obituary, Shelbyville Times-Gazette, 03/23/95
lxxii
Letter to Wilcox, May 25, 2000
lxxiii
Wedding Announcement, Oak Ridge Journal, date unknown. The wedding was 10 Sep. 1949
xlii