By: D. Ray Smith | Special to The Oak Ridger
Groundbreaking was held recently for the two new office buildings being built using private financing at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Both buildings have been given meaningful names: the largest one is the Jack Case Center and the smaller one located on Scarboro Road is the New Hope Building.
The larger office building will contain 1,200 offices and will be the center of support for Y-12's primary mission. Naming this building after Jack Case is in keeping with the long-term service Y-12 has provided the nation as a nuclear weapons site. Case came to Y-12 in 1944 as a "tool and die maker" and soon became very important to Y-12's continued presence in Oak Ridge.
When the Uranium 235 separation mission was completed at Y-12 with the dropping of "Little Boy," the plant's population of more than 22,000 people was reduced to just 3,000. Jack Case was among the three individuals sent to Los Alamos to learn what was needed to machine uranium for additional atomic weapons and thus introducing Y-12's second era as a special machine shop for manufacturing components for nuclear weapons.
Y-12 continues to support America's nuclear weapons program today as well as other vital national security missions.
However, many people who knew Jack Case have now retired. Some just knew his name as manager and several at Y-12 do not recall him.
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| An artist's rendering of the Jack Case building. |
In an attempt to help educate some and remind others, a series of articles is being published telling the "Jack Case story." Much of the information for these articles is coming from old news articles from The Oak Ridger. The Case family has provided scrapbooks, photos and copies of old newspapers to help with the research. One story in particular tells much about how Jack Case rose from a "tool and die maker" to plant manager. The article was written by long-time Oak Ridger Dick Smyser, a major force behind The Oak Ridger for years. Another article, written by Joan Wallace, contains numerous quotes from many of the 700 people who attended Jack Case's retirement party - maybe the largest retirement party ever in Oak Ridge.
Through the use of past articles from The Oak Ridger and information provided by Larry, Linda and Patrick, the children of Jack Case, it is possible to relive a time in history when Oak Ridge was growing from a Manhattan Project site with a single mission to a city with diverse and sustainable industry and healthy economic growth.
Telling the Jack Case story helps us recognize the past contributions of a strong and compelling leader in our community and also helps us focus on the positive changes being brought to our community through modernization at Y-12, new construction at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and other improvements being seen around our town.
Thanks to good reporting in the past and one family's thoughtfulness to hold on to their memories, the Jack Case story can be told and enjoyed anew.
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| Jack Case |
