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/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ John Lansdale Jr., 91, Colonel Who Sought Nazi Atomic Project, Dies September 1, 2003 By ANAHAD O'CONNOR John Lansdale Jr., the head of security for the Manhattan Project who helped lead American forces to Germany's atomic bomb project before Soviet forces could reach it, died on Aug. 22 at his home near Annapolis, Md. He was 91. In April 1945, as Allied and Soviet troops were pushing through Germany on their way toward Berlin, top American officials began a mission, known as Alsos, to track down Germany's atomic bomb project and its nuclear scientists before they could fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. Mr. Lansdale, an Army lieutenant colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the American project to develop nuclear weapons, had been chosen by the project's director, Gen. Leslie R. Groves, to lead a strike on a factory in Stassfurt in northern Germany, where General Groves suspected the Germans had a cache of bomb materials. On April 17, Colonel Lansdale and his team raided the plant and found about 1,100 tons of ore, some in the form of uranium oxide, a basic material of atomic bombs. In less than a week, the Alsos mission had also captured several prominent German atomic scientists, including Werner Heisenberg and Otto Hahn. The story of Alsos was chronicled in Richard Rhodes's book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," published in 1986. In the mid-1950's, at the height of American anti-Communist fervor, Mr. Lansdale was called before Congress to testify about a decision he had made 10 years earlier to approve the appointment of J. Robert Oppenheimer as head of the Manhattan Project's scientific team. Dr. Oppenheimer was accused of being a Communist and branded a security risk by the government, and his security clearance was revoked. Mr. Lansdale, outraged by Dr. Oppenheimer's treatment, ardently defended him as a loyal American citizen in the Congressional hearings and continued to do so for the rest of his life, said his daughter Sally Lansdale. Born in Oakland, Calif., John Lansdale Jr. earned his bachelor's degree from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from Harvard. In 1936 he went to work for Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, first in Cleveland and later in Washington. He remained with the firm until his retirement in 1987, aside from his military service. In 1995, Mr. Lansdale added a surprising twist to the story of the surrender of the Nazi submarine U-234 to American forces in May 1945. Bound for Tokyo, the submarine was carrying 10 containers filled with uranium oxide. For years, historians had wondered what the American military did with it. In an interview with The New York Times in 1995, Mr. Lansdale said the material, originally intended for Japan's atomic program, instead ended up in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "It went to the Manhattan District," he said. "It certainly went into the Manhattan District supply of uranium." Mr. Lansdale's wife of 65 years, Metta Virginia Tomlinson, died in 2001. He is survived by five daughters, Helen Lansdale of Oregon City, Ore.; Chloe Lansdale Pitard of Philadelphia; Mary Lansdale Hartmann of Millville, Del.; Metta T. Lansdale Jr. of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Sally Lansdale of Omaha; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/01/obituaries/01LANS.html?ex=1063414266&ei=1&en=2f9e22e50b221a7d --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! 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