Title: Stanley Duhan Oral History

Date/Date Range :   2002 March 14, 2002 April 11

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection houses the transcript of Stanley Duhan's oral history. In this interview, Duhan recollects aspects of his life, including time in the Navy and Air Force Reserves during World War II and the Korean War and his time working on the Titan and Atlas Missile projects.

Call number: MS-2889

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Donated to Special Collections by the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Stanley Duhan Oral History, MS-2889. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

This collection consists of one folder

Stanley Duhan was born in New Rochelle, New York, on 1926 March 12. His mother was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and his father was born in Latvia. His family was Jewish and Duhan celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, but he notes that the family did not keep kosher. Mr. Duhan's father owned an auto repair shop in Tuckahoe, New York and his mother was the book keeper there.

Following high school, Mr. Duhan enrolled at Virginia Tech because of their exceptional engineering program. It was at Virginia Tech that he received his first taste of military discipline. When he enrolled in the school at seventeen, he was required to join the Cadet Corps, a similar entity to the ROTC. The hierarchy in the Cadet Corps was based upon the class one was in. After one year in school, Mr. Duhan received his draft notice and was required to enlist in the Armed Forces for World War II.

Upon his draft notice Mr. Duhan was given the choice between Army and Navy, and he chose the Navy. Duhan was sent to the Finger Lakes region of New York, which was the site the Sampson Training Facility. After completing his training, Duhan was sent to Chicago to study at the Naval Electronics School. It was in Chicago that Duhan became aware of television and radar. Following his three months in Chicago, Duhan was shipped to what was then Oklahoma A & M for more electronics training. The next assignment was in Gulfport, Mississippi at the Naval Radio Operator's School. Duhan's final assignment was in Bambridge, Maryland. His job in Bambridge was discharging sailors, and when there were no more sailors, he discharged himself. Duhan returned to Virginia Tech on the GI bill and eventually received a degree in industrial and mechanical engineering.

During the Korean War, Duhan was an active reservist in the Air Force, but never saw action. At that time he worked in Waterbury, Connecticut at Chase Brass and Copper, which manufactured shell casings as well as plumbing tools and flower pots. Duhan then worked for Avco Lycoming. It was here that he was the project manager for the Titan and Atlas missile projects for the Air Force. After Avco, Duhan worked for Boeing as the supervisor for maintainability on the CH-47 helicopter during the Vietnam War. After Vietnam, helicopter production went down, and Duhan went to work for the TVA. After 15 years in the Office of Construction and Design, Duhan went to work as a Nuclear Consultant. This job took him to the various nuclear facilities around the country helping with such things as waste disposal.

Stanley Duhan passed away in Knoxville on 2006 May 12. He was 80 years old and had a wife and two children.

This interview with Stanley Duhan provides a firsthand account of military life and the civilian development of military tools. Although Duhan never saw action in a foreign country, there are plenty accounts of the camaraderie and organization of the Navy in World War II. Duhan provides detailed descriptions, including entertaining narrative, about his time working on the Titan and Atlas missile projects for Avco Lycoming. The interview is full of information regarding each job that Duhan performed in his life from the military to his final position as a nuclear consultant.

• World War, 1939-1945.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans.
• Korean War, 1950-1953.
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
• Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Nuclear facilities -- United States.
• Guided missiles -- Design and construction.
• United States. Navy -- History.