Tom Forkner · Recorded 2014 · with Daniel Forkner & Jim Rosenberg

Right Place at the Right Time

Army & Oak Ridge

Where Tom Fit In — Manhattan Project, 1946

The Army's own organization chart, annotated — where Tom's assignments sat on it

Transcript only — no recording for this segment.

Tom: When I left Pensacola, within thirty days the instruction came through that everyone in Pensacola that hadn’t been overseas was being transferred. And then when I went to headquarters in Atlanta, and went to work for Asa Candler — I got out of that department to go work for him — orders came by that everyone in headquarters that hadn’t been overseas was getting transferred.

So then I worked for Asa, and then I decided since I’d been in it for my own, I would take an opportunity to get a commission, so I’d come out at least with a commission. So I went through OCS.

They sent me through, and after I graduated…

I was sent in to what you call the “Kill or be Killed School,” and everybody there was assigned overseas. So I mean they went — they taught you so many things there in that kill or be killed school that you could fight a tiger. And the overall classes was about like 600, but they go from that immediately to overseas. And it was just a question whether you went to the Far East or Europe. And everybody wanted to go to Europe. And 17 people got pulled out, and didn’t have to go for various reasons.

And I was one of them.