VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – As the 78th anniversary of the end of World War II is being remembered this week across America, an Eckelson, North Dakota man was drafted to work with a team of scientist who would build the first atomic bomb.
The movie “Oppenheimer” now playing in local movie theaters, focuses on Robert Oppenheimer, who put together a team of scientist to create the bomb that would end World War II.
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people.
Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”
A few years earlier, a Jamestown College chemistry student was drafted to become a member of the Manhattan Project, a group of scientist responsible for the creation of the Atomic Bomb. Barnes County Museum Director Wes Anderson talked about how that student, Dr. Clifford Klein’s life changed quickly one day.
The neighbors thought Klein was a draft dodger, but that wasn’t the case.
Ironically, Klein’s wife, Elizabeth, was part of a secret project in WWII and neither could share their work details.
Klein was a graduate of Eckelson, ND High School in 1938. He and his wife moved to Valley City in 1952 to start a medical practice following his graduation from medical school. Klein died in 2007 at the age of 86.
Feature photo: Elizabeth and Clifford Klein on their wedding day. This story was originally posted on August 6th of 2020 on NewsDakota.com
