George Morgan - Rocket Girl

Ibid. and Bob Ward, Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 19.

Unlike rockets, fighter aircraft were forbidden under the Versailles Treaty. Neufeld, Von Braun , p. 74.

Project Paperclip. Ward, Dr. Space , p. 59.

Neufeld, Von Braun , p. 71.

Ward, Dr. Space , p. 17.

Neufeld, Von Braun , pp. 74, 81.

Bob Ward, Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 17.

Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York: Vintage Press, 2007), pp. 82–85.

Wikipedia , s.v. “Kummersdorf,” last modified May 9, 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kummersdorf.

Neufeld, Von Braun , pp. 110–12.

Ibid.

James J. Harford, Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), p. 49.

Ibid., p. 50.

Ibid.

“Gulag: Soviet Forced Labor Camps and the Struggle for Freedom,” Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, http://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/work.php(accessed April 11, 2013).

Stanislaw J. Kowalski, “Kolyma: The Land of Gold and Death,” ch. 7, http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/sjk/kolyma7.htm(accessed April 30, 2013).

According to a 1974 job application (courtesy of G. Richard Morgan), Mary graduated from Ray High School on May 31, 1940.

George Richard Morgan and Elaine Sofio, interview with the author, March 23, 2002.

Sister Mary Nadine Mathias, Sisters of Notre Dame, e-mail to the author, September 20, 2012.

Ibid.

Letter from Mary to the adoptive mother in 1944, six weeks after the birth of her daughter in Philadelphia. Ruth’s birthdate is April 13, 1944; her adoptive parents, Dudley Irving Hibbard and Mary Grace Hibbard, were from Huron, Ohio. This information was obtained from a Probate Court paper “Adoption of Mary G. Sherman” signed by Judge John W. Baxter and dated June 8, 1946, in possession of author.

“JoanFarley1946,” “I Understand Mother, I Just Want to Know What Happened,” Adoption.com Adoption Forums, originally posted March 30, 2008, http://forums.adoption.com/making-contact-communicating/330379-i-understand-mother-i-just-want-know-what-happened.html(accessed April 19, 2013).

“Sherry Nelson,” “Saint Vincent’s Home,” Ancestry.com Message Boards, originally posted December 17, 2002, http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=1940&p=localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.philadelphia(accessed April 19, 2013).

This is the only version of this letter the author has found. Mary Hibbard gave it to her adopted daughter, Ruth Hibbard, at some point. Ruth eventually married a Mr. Fichter, and she kept the letter all these years. When I came out of the woodwork, Ruth sent me a thick folder of family documents, including a copy of the letter.

St. Vincent’s allowed unwed birth mothers to pay for some of their expenses by working in the hospital for a period of time after giving birth.

Apparently, Mary was expecting a visit from her brother Vernon Sherman. This is odd since she was in Philadelphia at the time, and he, presumably, was still in North Dakota. However, since the war was still on, Vernon may have been stationed at a military base nearby.

Mary Nahas, The Heroic Journey of Private Galione (North Carolina: Mary’s Designs, 2012), p. 53.

Ibid.

“World War 2 Weapons: German Machine Guns; MG-42,” http://ww2weapons1.tripod.com/worldwar2/id15.html.

Erik Bergaust, Wernher von Braun (New York: Cobb/Dunlop, 1976), pp. 89–91.

Ibid., p. 91. Bergaust places the number of relocated German engineers at 500. However, in his book The Nazi Rocketeers (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2007), Dennis Piszkiewicz sets the number at 400 (see pp. 190, 191).

G. Richard Morgan, interview with the author, April 30, 2000. Dieter Huzel worked a short time at Fort Bliss and White Sands before obtaining a more permanent position with Rocketdyne in Canoga Park. He, Mary, and her husband Richard worked together at times.

Bergaust, Wernher von Braun , pp. 90, 91.

Ibid., p. 91.

Mark D. Bowles and Robert S. Arrighi, “NASA’s Nuclear Frontier—The Plum Brook Reactor Facility,” published August 2004, p. 29, http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4533/Plum%20Brook%20Complete.pdf.

Ibid., p. 29.

Ibid., p. 30.

Ibid., p. 31.

Ibid., pp. 9, 10.

Ibid., pp. 22–24.

Ibid., p. 27.

Ibid.

Nahas, Journey of Private Galione , p. 59.

Ibid.

Ibid., pp. 63–67, 78.

Robert S. Kraemer, Rocketdyne: Powering Humans into Space (Reston, VA: AIAA, 2005), p. 11.

Piszkiewicz, Nazi Rocketeers , p. 191.

Bergaust, Wernher von Braun , pp. 90, 91.

Ibid., p. 91.

Piszkiewicz, Nazi Rocketeers , pp. 190, 191.

Ibid., p. 193.

Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (New York: Vintage Press, 2007), p. 197.

Ibid., p. 198.

Ibid., p. 199.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 200.

Ibid.

G. Richard Morgan, interview with the author, December 5, 2005.

Irving Kanarek, interview with the author, Costa Mesa, March 6, 2011.

Two years after Mary stood at that intersection, the airport would be renamed Los Angeles International Airport.

Irving Kanarek, interview with the author, Costa Mesa, March 6, 2011. Though everyone, including Kanarek, agrees that he was fired from North American, there are several differing stories on what triggered his termination. Two engineers I interviewed said that Kanarek was fired after inadvertently leaving a briefcase full of secret documents in a bar in Los Angeles. Kanarek insists that story has no truth. Kanarek’s version of the secretary’s “correction” was verified by other sources, including Bill Webber. However, after North American and the FBI conducted an investigation and discovered the secretary did indeed alter Kanarek’s application entry, he was not offered reemployment, lending credence to the idea that there might have been other problems.