By Ian Berry
Staff Writer
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. —; Sixty years after they last saw each other, Bill Tewes and Larry O’Rourke didn’t need name-tags to pick each other out of a crowd Thursday.
The old roommates and co-workers on one of the world’s most famous projects didn’t even need to look for one another.
“I heard Larry talking, and I recognized his voice,” Mr. Tewes said.
Soon the pair were catching up and reminiscing about their days living together, going on double dates and working at Oak Ridge’s K-25 plant, an enormous project that played a key role in the first atomic bomb.
“I’m just a loudmouth, I guess,” Mr. O’Rourke said.
Thursday’s reunion, for people who worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, was organized by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. The reunion was for those who worked at K-25, although many who attended also worked at the Y-12 plant, another facility in Oak Ridge constructed to enrich uranium at the same time.
Atomic Heritage Foundation Director Cynthia Kelly said it was crucial for these veterans, most of whom are in their early 80s, to tell their stories. A video camera was documenting the reunion, which will continue today with a tour of what’s left of the K-25 site.
“Historians will come decades from now and try to put the story in their context,” Ms. Kelly said. “As you’ve seen in the past 60 years, it’s taken different colorations with each decade.”
Many people overlook Oak Ridge’s role in the Manhattan Project, Ms. Kelly said. Although many associate the project with Los Alamos, N.M., Oak Ridge’s facilities accounted for more than half of the federal money spent in 1945, while operations at Los Alamos cost only a fraction of that.
In the race to build the atomic bomb, the Y-12 and K-25 plants were built simultaneously to enrich uranium. The two facilities used different methods, and workers at either facility did not know what the other was doing.
The work at K-25 was crucial to getting “over the hump” Ms. Kelly said. Although the uranium produced through gaseous diffusion at the K-25 plant was not enough, when added to the process at the Y-12 plant it greatly increased uranium enrichment there.
In Chattanooga, Eric Swanson is proud of his contribution at the Y-12 plant, where he worked from 1944 to 1949. The two atomic bombs dropped in Japan are credited by many with ending World War II.
Mr. Swanson said he also has “feelings of insecurity” about the work’s legacy, especially when he thinks of his children and grandchildren. He notes with concern the other countries that since have pursued nuclear weapons.
Many at Thursday’s reunion said Oak Ridge’s legacy includes nuclear energy.
“That whole nuclear power movement was born here,” said Robert Kupp, of Tarrytown, N.Y.
Joseph McCoon, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee who attended the reunion out of curiosity, said he often has to explain to people that he is not studying to make big explosions.
“We certainly have a different feel for it,” Mr. McCoon said. “We don’t think ‘the bomb’ as soon as you say ‘nuclear.’”
Many at the reunion were Mr. McCoon’s age or younger when they arrived in Oak Ridge.
Mr. O’Rourke brought photos that proved his friendship with Mr. Tewes, including one that showed their room, which included photos on their nightstands of their sweethearts.
Mr. O’Rourke’s album also included photos of him and friends enjoying celebratory drinks on a Sunday morning after they learned of the first bomb dropping.
There were plenty of other good times for Mr. O’Rourke, of eastern Pennsylvania, and Mr. Tewes, of New Jersey. Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Toombs are in photos taken atop Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga and at the Walker County, Ga., line.
“We had never been in Georgia,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “It was something to do.”
E-mail Ian Berry at iberry@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. —; Sixty years after they last saw each other, Bill Tewes and Larry O’Rourke didn’t need name-tags to pick each other out of a crowd Thursday.
The old roommates and co-workers on one of the world’s most famous projects didn’t even need to look for one another.
“I heard Larry talking, and I recognized his voice,” Mr. Tewes said.
Soon the pair were catching up and reminiscing about their days living together, going on double dates and working at Oak Ridge’s K-25 plant, an enormous project that played a key role in the first atomic bomb.
“I’m just a loudmouth, I guess,” Mr. O’Rourke said.
Thursday’s reunion, for people who worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, was organized by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. The reunion was for those who worked at K-25, although many who attended also worked at the Y-12 plant, another facility in Oak Ridge constructed to enrich uranium at the same time.
Atomic Heritage Foundation Director Cynthia Kelly said it was crucial for these veterans, most of whom are in their early 80s, to tell their stories. A video camera was documenting the reunion, which will continue today with a tour of what’s left of the K-25 site.
“Historians will come decades from now and try to put the story in their context,” Ms. Kelly said. “As you’ve seen in the past 60 years, it’s taken different colorations with each decade.”
Many people overlook Oak Ridge’s role in the Manhattan Project, Ms. Kelly said. Although many associate the project with Los Alamos, N.M., Oak Ridge’s facilities accounted for more than half of the federal money spent in 1945, while operations at Los Alamos cost only a fraction of that.
In the race to build the atomic bomb, the Y-12 and K-25 plants were built simultaneously to enrich uranium. The two facilities used different methods, and workers at either facility did not know what the other was doing.
The work at K-25 was crucial to getting “over the hump” Ms. Kelly said. Although the uranium produced through gaseous diffusion at the K-25 plant was not enough, when added to the process at the Y-12 plant it greatly increased uranium enrichment there.
In Chattanooga, Eric Swanson is proud of his contribution at the Y-12 plant, where he worked from 1944 to 1949. The two atomic bombs dropped in Japan are credited by many with ending World War II.
Mr. Swanson said he also has “feelings of insecurity” about the work’s legacy, especially when he thinks of his children and grandchildren. He notes with concern the other countries that since have pursued nuclear weapons.
Many at Thursday’s reunion said Oak Ridge’s legacy includes nuclear energy.
“That whole nuclear power movement was born here,” said Robert Kupp, of Tarrytown, N.Y.
Joseph McCoon, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee who attended the reunion out of curiosity, said he often has to explain to people that he is not studying to make big explosions.
“We certainly have a different feel for it,” Mr. McCoon said. “We don’t think ‘the bomb’ as soon as you say ‘nuclear.’”
Many at the reunion were Mr. McCoon’s age or younger when they arrived in Oak Ridge.
Mr. O’Rourke brought photos that proved his friendship with Mr. Tewes, including one that showed their room, which included photos on their nightstands of their sweethearts.
Mr. O’Rourke’s album also included photos of him and friends enjoying celebratory drinks on a Sunday morning after they learned of the first bomb dropping.
There were plenty of other good times for Mr. O’Rourke, of eastern Pennsylvania, and Mr. Tewes, of New Jersey. Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Toombs are in photos taken atop Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga and at the Walker County, Ga., line.
“We had never been in Georgia,” Mr. O’Rourke said. “It was something to do.”
E-mail Ian Berry at iberry@timesfreepress.com
