Uncle Passing away (thought to be only man to witness all three atom bomb detonations)

Obituary published in multiple sources | December 7th, 2011 | self

[shoedog]

Uncle Larry was on the trailing B-29 Little Artiste for the two detonations in Japan. He was also in a plane over the test detonation. He measured the radioactive fallout. He was 93 when he died.

[shoedog]

Here is a link to an article written about him just a few weeks before that expounds on some of the information. You are correct about 1943, I believe he first went with Alvarez in 1940, the 1943 invention I think was implemented later in the war, and a good observation by you, would have been after the Battle of Britian.

http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/territory/idaho-man-witness-to-atomic-blasts/article_994031d6-121a-11e1-8663-001cc4c03286.html

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks for posting your Uncle’s obituary. He was a terrific man, husband and father. You are clearly very proud of him.

My Dad and his brother both went to the University of Idaho in Moscow. Both studied mechanical engineering and the Army sent my uncle to Oak Ridge where he helped run the thermal diffusion plant to produce enriched uranium for the bomb. He taught local farm boys fresh off the farm how to run the equipment. After the war, he machined plutonium components at Los Alamos for bomb tests in the Pacific. He went on to get a PhD and had a very successful career as an orthodontist.

[Amberdawn]

God Bless your Uncle, he was a patriot and fine American.

[null and void]

Thanks for sharing. My dad was on the Maryland off Okinawa when it took a Kamikaze hit to the top of the #3 turret. (He was manning a gun position at the base of said turret)

He doubtless would have been in the invasion force for the Japanese mainland without your uncle’s fine work.

Odds are without your uncle and so many other of his fine colleagues, I would not be here.

Dad passed in October.