America in WWII - (Page 26) A WAR STORIES 32 miles of shoreline & a San Francisco Bay experience Visit the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park which preserves the places & interprets the stories of our nation’s home front response to World War II. Stay in Richmond and enjoy our museums, 2 unique islands, live theatre, diverse shopping and more… Plan on visiting Richmond on September 29th and 30th, 2007, for the annual Home Front Festival. Food, music, street theatre, maritime demonstrations and much more can be enjoyed at three of the National Park sites, including the SS Red Oak Victory Ship. Browse our website or call for more information. RICHMOND CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU 3925 Macdonald Avenue, Richmond, California 94805 510.307.4470 phone | 877.CVB.0060 toll free | 510.234.3540 fax | www.VisitRichmondCa.com AN ORAL HISTORY OF WWII HANFORD By Stephen L. Sanger The Goal: To beat Nazi Germany to the secret of the atomic bomb An account, from first to last, of the secret and remote wartime site amidst the sagebrush desert in Washington State. Although more than 137,000 people helped to build and operate Hanford, only a handful knew its true purpose. For everyone else, secrecy was a patriotic mandate. The story of Hanford is told in the words of the people who were there, from the scientists and engineers who designed it to the workers and technicians who built and operated it. The human stories behind the pivotal role Hanford played in the success of the Manhattan Project and the overall war effort are relayed through archival photographs and firsthand accounts. WORKING ON THE BOMB “The experience was once in a lifetime.You knew you were doing something important but you didn’t know what.” Hope Sloan Amacher,WAC Corporal Bureau of Standards and by precision-driven companies such as Warner and Swasey. Obtaining spider silk was difficult and practiced by only a handful of Americans. Two of these people were Dr. John G. Albright, a physicist at Case University in Cleveland, Ohio, and his brother Emil Albright, a farmer in Knox County, Ohio. Dr. John was wrestling with the costly problem of repairing a telescope when, on a walk with Emil around the farm, he saw a blackberry patch glistening in the summer sun. Golden garden spiders had covered their favorite home with their webs. This spider, native to Ohio, was one of only three species suitable for “milking.” Emil invented mechanisms to extract the silk from the females. A family cottage industry was thus born. Emil began filling specialized optical orders in 1937. When World War II broke out, his entire production was designated for the US military. A special clamp enabled Emil to hold a female spider and harmlessly milk her of 50 feet of silk at a time. He could harvest 500 feet from each spider during the course of the short excretion season. The sticky strand, which hardened almost instantly, was quickly wound around another invention, a flat spool that looked rather like the spool of a fishing rod. Each strand was 1/8 the diameter of a human hair, or 0.0001 to 0.00015 inches. It could be subdivided into 20 threads, each of which was stronger than piano wire and virtually indestructible. The silk withstood temperatures, humidity, and oxidation and was breakable only when 60,000 pounds per square inch was applied, usually by accident. Emil’s son, Albert Albright, continued the business until his death in 2000. A Send your War Stories submission, with a relevant photo if possible, to War Stories, America in WWII, PO Box 4175, Harrisburg, PA 17111-0175. By sending stories and photos to War Stories, you give us permission to publish and republish them. “Libraries with solid patron interest in matters nuclear can safely bet on the Sanger title.” Booklist, American Library Assn. $17.95 plus shipping 1-866-647-7377 www.cep.pdx.edu/wwii06.html 26 AMERICA IN WWII OCTOBER 2007
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