‘You just do what you have to do’

Kalkaska – In the summer of 1945, Charles Wilfong, 29, watched two semi-trucks leave the Los Alamos, N. M. area where he was stationed with the U.S. Army.
‘The trucks left the base down the main road in the morning just before noon,? said Wilfong. ‘The containers which held the bombs were encased, so you really couldn’t tell what the trucks were carrying. We didn’t know they were going to drop the bombs on people. We knew it was real destructive but there wasn’t even a rumor of the intent. That same week those bombs fell.?
Wilfong, a Brandon Township resident for more than 25 years was stationed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M. where two atomic bombs were constructed. The trucks which Wilfong saw leave the base 60 years ago contained the14-kiloton atomic bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy? dropped Aug. 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan. The second truck held the 20-kiloton ‘Fat Man? atomic bomb set for Nagasaki, Japan dropped Aug. 9, 1945. The detonations of these bombs prompted Japan’s surrender to the allied powers fighting in the Pacific. Activities ceased shortly after Aug. 14, 1945.
‘When the bombs were dropped they called our group in and they told us about it. They didn’t know the devastation it would cause until after it had been dropped.?
On the 60th anniversary of dropping the atomic bombs, Wilfong–now 88 years old– recalls some of the activities and events while stationed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The north central New Mexico area, synonymous with nuclear testing, was renamed the Manhattan District.
A native of White Hall, Ill., Wilfong moved to the Pontiac, Mich. area in 1926. He married Hazel June Alumbaugh in 1935, graduating from Pontiac High School that same year. As a high school student he lied about his age and joined the Michigan National Guard, serving one night a week training to be a machine-gunner. He later worked at Pontiac Motors until he was drafted in July 1945.
‘After I was drafted, we had an option to be stationed somewhere in the southwestern United States with a ‘Class A? security pass’or the regular army. I came in as a staff sergeant in charge of the radio room and guard house,? said Wilfong. ‘I was 29 years old in 1945 and in charge of some of the day-to-day security operations of the project.?
Just prior to Wilfong’s assignment to the Los Alamos-Manhattan District the FBI completed extensive background checks in his Pontiac neighborhood where he grew up. The FBI censored his letters home and phone conversations, says Wilfong.
‘My boss at Pontiac Motors said it was the most thorough investigation he’s ever seen conducted.?
‘I could get in all the areas of the base due to a Class A pass, but I couldn’t tell anyone where I was or what I was doing’including my family. All the mail was into Santa Fe, N.M. We couldn’t talk about the weather, where you’re at or what you’re doing. No names either. We later learned the atomic bomb was being built there, we knew something big was going on.?
While stationed at Los Alamos, Wilfong also had several chance meetings with Robert Oppenheimer, Manhattan District director. On July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer witnessed the first explosion of an atomic bomb’an implosion bomb’successfully tested near Alamogordo, N.M.
‘We knew the world would not be the same,? said Oppenheimer in a quote to the media following the test.
‘I spoke with Oppenheimer in passing,? said Wilfong. ‘I know he liked to ride horses and we sent police out with him when he rode in the desert. His house was guarded all the time.?
Life in the Manhattan District was always under observation, says Wilfong, including guard towers and armed soldiers.
‘We were always tested for radioactivity. After you left certain areas they had Geiger counters everywhere when you left one of those sites. If you tested positive after the test you had to strip off all your clothes and throw them down this hole’then take a shower. They gave you new clothes to wear. They kept a real close watch on us. I did see one guy that got tangled up with some radioactive material, he was contaminated. It later killed him.?
During the weeks at the Los Alamos National Laboratory explosions were common, says Wilfong.
‘They kept doing these bomb tests tests on the side of mountains. As military police we made sure a 15-mile area was clear of people from the base. We set up radio contacts, and made sure no one was in the area before the bombs were tested.?
‘We could feel and hear the bombs go off about once a week? the ground would shake so hard that the windows in our barracks would slam shut and our beds would move,? said Wilfong. ‘I was never in any fear, I figured they knew what they were doing.?
Wilfong says residents in Santa Fe, N.M.–about 25 miles away to the southeast of Los Alamos–reported hearing the bomb blasts.
Some areas of the district were more secret than others, says Wilfong. Activities and progress on the bombs in ‘D-site? which was run by DuPont produced a lot of contamination.
‘D-site was where they were mixing the bombs,? said Wilfong. ‘Geiger counters were used everywhere’security was very tight there.?
‘I got to be friends with a lot of people while I was at Los Alamos,? said Wilfong. ‘One medical doctor that was stationed there said military use of the nuclear energy is one thing’but after the war research to develop the medical use of nuclear engery could be used.?
Each day about 1,500 civilian workers in buses would come to the laboratory. There were two companies of military police at the gate along with hundreds of Army engineers and Women’s Army Corps members at the base.
Wilfong was discharged in the fall of 1945 and went back to work as an industrial engineer at Pontiac Motors. He and his wife located in Brandon Township before Wilfong retired in 1973. They moved to Kalkaska, Mich. in 1985.
They have three children: Bob Wilfong of Brandon Township, Joan Knauf of Traverse City, and Janet Inscho of Oxford.
‘My mom went to visit my dad in New Mexico from February to April 1946,? said Janet Inscho, the couple’s youngest daughter.
‘I was born in 1947, so mom always says I’m her little atomic bomb baby.?
The Wilfongs now have 10 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Now 60 years after the veteran impacted history, from the perspective of a patriarch, Wilfong still maintains the events of August 1945 were essential to the conclusion of the war.
‘It’s a bad thing but it was a necessity,? said Wilfong. ‘It sure hurried up the end of war. It was a job. You just do what you have to do.?