Nancy De Gennrro, Daily News Journal, April 24, 2016
Janet Stankwytch, Irene Coburn and Lola Stanton were employees at Atomic City, where they made the parts to the bomb in the 1940s.
MURFREESBORO — They had no idea where they were going or what they’d be doing. But they went anyway because they were told the well paying jobs would help the “war effort” — and those were buzzwords during World War II.
They are the many young women from across the country who went to work in Oak Ridge, Tenn., also known as Atomic City. The “secret city” was the production site for the Manhattan Project, a top-secret operation which constructed nuclear weapons during World War II.
The work badges of Lola Stanton when she worked at Oak Ridge, known as Atomic City.
One Book of Rutherford County, a community reading initiative through Read To Succeed, has chosen “The Girls of Atomic City” by Denise Kiernan for its 2016 selection. This nonfiction work profiles women of Oak Ridge, including one woman from Eagleville. Photographs and personal stories in the book create a picture of their life.
“The community has really rallied around this year’s choice,” said Lisa Mitchell, executive director or Read To Succeed. “This is my sixth One Book to be involved with and I have already gotten more positive feedback than any of our previous choices … probably due to the local ties and so many of us that just weren’t aware of how things played out during that time.”
Recently Adams Place retirement center held a book talk that focused on “The Girls of Atomic City.” Resident Sandy Everett led the forum, which hosted three women from AdamsPlace who worked in Atomic City, which w as first constructed in 1942 and produced enriched uranium between 1943 and 1945. The uranium was used in the making of the atom bombs.
Janet Stankwytch, Irene Coburn and Lola Stanton went to work in Oak Ridge. They didn’t know one another at the time, but each of them had a small part that went into producing the bomb.
“Oak Ridge did not exist on any map, on any plan. The secret was so deep they didn’t have the slightest idea,” Sandy Everett said.
Stankwytch, who took the job that paid a “whole lot more” than she was being paid at a country school, remembered the experience of getting to the secret location. “It was a troop train. There were girls and b oys, sleeping on luggage racks, two to three to a seat,”Janet. “I remember riding on the train all night and when we arrived, everyone was hungry and tired.”
And then there was mud. The city was thrown up quickly. Landscaping was scarce, but mud was plentiful.
“Everyone kept their ration stamps to buy Girl Scout shoes so they could walk in the mud,” Stankwytch recalled.
Coburn had no clue about her job. Before going to Atomic City, Stanton was an employee of Western Union, which sent her there to work. Stanton, like many there, worked more in an operations support capacity to the 75,000 residents so the city could function. The c ity needed teachers, garbage collectors and store clerks, among other positions.
Stankwytch had more insight.
“My job required me to know. I had top clearance,” said Stankwytch, who was a university graduate who got a higher-ranking position. “I had C-clearance. I could get into certain places because of that.”
Atomic City wasn’t all work.
“We put in our eight hours and we left for the fun,” Stankwytch joked.
A lot of marriages took place there. All three women at Adams Place met their husbands there.
Swimming pools, skating rinks, tennis courts and dance halls offered recreation. Residents were entertained by national acts like Tommy Dorsey, among others.
“It is an incredible story. We could not have done it without them. They helped build the bomb. It would not have taken place at this day and time we could not have had a secret like this. The timing was remarkable,” Everett said.
Reach reporter Nancy De Gennaro at 615278-5148 or follow her on Twitter @DNJMama