“The day I went into that mine, I was never told that this is going to be dangerous and there’s going to be some consequences. And I drank that water probably like eight to ten cups a day. So did the rest of the miners. …My father would come back in the morning or evening, he would rub his pants and shake it, and all the contaminants would be spread in the living area. Clothes were washed in one basket along with the clothing that came from the mine.” - Phil Harrison. Uranium miner, Dine.
Recorded in: America's nuclear past : examining the effects of radiation in Indian country : field hearing before the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, first session, October 7, 2019.
Oral histories and personal accounts of events add to the historic record by sharing personal experiences, and perspectives not found in most public records or statistics. Oral histories often come from individuals who are or were excluded from other presentations of the past and their stories are an important part to fully understanding events. The viewpoints and perspectives may contradict other depictions of events or provide the only first-hand accounts available. Many people have heard of Oppenheimer and the development of the bomb, but there were many others who were affected whose stories should also be known.
"First We Bombed New Mexico is the untold story of Trinity, the world’s first nuclear bomb detonated in New Mexico one month before the bombing of Hiroshima.
It is a story of government betrayal with tragic consequences.
Thousands of New Mexicans - mostly Hispanic and Native American - were exposed to catastrophic levels of radioactive fallout, never warned, never acknowledged and never helped afterwards. Generations of cancers followed."
Oral Histories from the Grants Uranium District, New Mexico
"The Grants Uranium District once held the title of being the “premier uranium mining district of the world,” as measured by the amount of production and the largest announced reserves.1 Mining began in the 1950s with the discovery of uranium ore at Haystack Butte, a few miles west of Grants. At the height of employment in the late 1970s over seven thousand people worked in the exploration, mining, and milling of uranium. At least forty-two mines produced ore and five mills processed it into yellowcake. This paper will focus on the experiences of people who worked in the Grants Uranium District from the 1950s into the 1980s. The interviews took place from 2012 through 2015."
Robert Ortiz, First Generation New Mexico Downwinder
“Local Pilot Tracked Radiation” Filmed by Paul Pino, April 22, 2021
Service History Note: The veteran joined the reserves in 1943 and began active duty in 1944, and was a member of the B-14 training crew. He was trained as a navigator/bombardier and then as an aerial gunner and teletype operator. Veteran was also on a bombing training mission to Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands), where he dropped leaflets over isolated Japanese posts at the end of the war. He witnessed the first nuclear explosion at Trinity Site in New Mexico, and helped prepare Alamogordo Base for its role as the center of atomic bomb research.
Voices of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation.
Felix DePaula’s Interview (2008)
"Felix DePaula was an Army private stationed at the Trinity Site and Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. After the war, DePaula stayed at Los Alamos, and worked for the Zia Company there. In this interview, DePaula talks about life at Trinity Site, especially the isolation and the entertainment he and his fellow soldiers would come up with to pass the time. He describes the rodeos the military police would help set up. DePaula also witnessed the Trinity test, and talks about the feeling among the troops after seeing the detonation. He also recalls the high security at the gates to Los Alamos."