The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Kiernan Denise

Author:Kiernan, Denise [Kiernan, Denise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 2013-03-05T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Curiosity and Silence

A three-year concentration of curiosity should be quite a potent brew for the average woman.

—Vi Warren, Oak Ridge Journal

“Henry won’t be coming home tonight,” the voice said. “We need to keep him here.”

Another call from work, another cryptic message. Celia wondered if this would be the last time she would get a call like this about her new husband.

Sometimes Henry turned up the next day, sometimes it was two. When he did arrive, it was not with much of an explanation. Celia knew—and Henry had told her as much—that he himself didn’t completely understand why he had to stay and couldn’t tell her what went on while he was there. All Celia knew was that sometimes he had to stay over. Celia never got used to it, never stopped wondering if Henry was okay. It would be years before she would learn the stories behind his workplace sleepovers.

They had just gotten married in January 1945, sooner than Celia had anticipated. At her mother’s request, Celia had gone to visit her family in late 1944. Celia’s mother and father had moved closer to Celia’s grandmother in New Jersey, as her father’s silicosis had only gotten worse and there was nothing left for him in the mines. Still struggling with English, he had taken a job as an elevator operator in a silk factory in Paterson. Always the charmer, and despite his linguistic challenges, he still managed an innocent flirt with his fairer female passengers. It had all been hard on her mother, especially with two sons fighting—one of whom was missing in action—and Celia doing whatever it was that she was doing. A visit wasn’t enough. Couldn’t Celia find a way to work in New York again? her mother wondered. No matter how old Celia was, she found it hard to deny her mother. At least Henry had promised to come visit.

She had had another request for a visit while she was in the north, this one from the Project. Celia had, on occasion, made trips to Washington and New York for the General and Mr. Smitz. They booked her in a private train compartment with instructions to deliver documents. This time Project officials wanted her to come in and discuss her work in Tennessee. What could they possibly want to know about my filing, dictation, and memo writing? Celia wondered. She took the train into Manhattan and, after a familiar walk through the city, arrived at the offices and was brought before an Army colonel.

He asked her to take a seat.

“I would like to talk to you about your work,” he said.

Before he asked her a word, he began hooking her up to some sort of machine. Celia had never seen anything like it. A cloth band was wrapped around her arm; it looked a bit like the kind that doctors used to take your blood pressure. Celia sat, patiently. Nervous. There was little explanation. Then the questions began.

What kind of work have

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