Brandon: How long were you in the service?

Sanford: I joined for two years, because my father was on the draft board and I didn’t want to be drafted and, so, I was regular army. Do you know the advantage of being in the regular army? You got paid first (chuckles). And…one thing you’re told when you’re army is never to volunteer. I got so tired of picking up cigarette butts, one morning I took…anybody…wanna…know anything about drafting, and I was going to be an engineer at the time, and I raised my hand and by golly they assigned me to the Atomic Energy Commission. And I didn’t single handedly, but I made the atomic bomb. Now you’ve heard of the Atomic Bomb?

Brandon: Yeah.

Mathew: Yes.

Miriam: Mhmm.

Sanford: You’ve heard about bikini? Not the bathing suit (chuckles).

All: (Laughing)

Sanford: The Island of Bikini…where they had the Atomic Bomb test

All: Yes.

Miriam: Were you there when they were testing it out because how they wanted to know it was going to go correctly?

Sanford: What, the Bomb?

Miriam: Yes.

Brandon: Yes.

Sanford: Yeah, sure. I was on the U.S.S Haven, AH-12 army hospital. We were 18 miles away, the closest ship…and I still have my dark glasses. So, if there is an eclipse I can go watch it. But then I watched the bombs go off…and there was a loud speaker, they told you when to take them on and when to take them off. ‘Cause if you didn’t you’d go blind. Oh, it was really something…because that was the opening of a new era of life. And when we went to bikini…uh…the F.B.I kind of checked us out, and my mother let me know that she was called and said that they were called to check to make sure I wasn’t a spy…all before they’d take you over there. And then we came back, we signed the agreement, and didn’t say anything. I couldn’t make an atomic bomb. The Russians can, but I can’t. I know a little bit about them, about it, but it was interesting…it was a long time ago.

Brandon: So what were you thinking when you were assisting in the building of the atomic bomb, or the making of the atomic bomb? Were you looking into the future of warfare or were you just doing…?

Sanford: Oh, no, no, no, no. No, when you're 18 you don’t think about things like that. You are asked to do something…and…you go to work and you draw plans.

This interview was conducted by Cal Poly Pomona students Matthew Olivas, Brandon White and Miriam Alatorre in the Winter 2006 Service Learning section of IGE 120 (Consciousness and Community) as part of a project with the Historical Society of Pomona Valley. Transcription by Brandon White.