John’s Meat Market

In contrast to the millions of people that relocated to obtain jobs constructing roads, or building ships, or were prematurely cast into the role of managing a farm, substantial numbers of people continued working in their prewar occupations. Nonetheless, the war altered their lives as commodity shortages and rationing affected everyone; even imposing adjustments to the daily operations of main street businesses as unpretentious as John’s Meat Market in Almelund, Minnesota.

Traditionally, John’s merchandise included various cuts of beef and pork, along with chicken, and butter. His customers either purchased the goods with money, or bartered for credit with live chickens or hogs, which John butchered and sold to his …show more content…
The stopover at the secluded desert research facility induced Marvin to reminisce on the subject of his war years. During the war, he headed up a team of scientists and engineers that worked on the detonation device for the nuclear bomb. To maximize devastation, the bomb needed to unleash its ferocity above the ground, in contrast to conventional bombs that explode on impact. Marvin and his team engineered a system that detonated the bomb at the appropriate altitude by precisely timing a radar signal bounced off the ground. Since the apparatus that the team developed remained untested until the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the usually self-confident engineer anxiously waited until the device performed its function successfully over the Japanese …show more content…
When his orders mandated that he remain behind in Los Alamos, the chagrined naval officer requested an explanation. His superior enlightened him with the justification that incase the explosion exceeded estimates and obliterated all those present, a cadre of scientists and engineers needed to remain safe from harm to carry on the research. Still miffed, the brash officer, thought that he at least should inspect the strictly off limits test site. Shortly before the scheduled explosion, Marvin and his girl friend, with exuberant defiance, clandestinely slipped into the site to scrutinize the layout and inaugurate it in an intimate manner.

The dropping of the atomic bombs, the first on Hiroshima, followed by a second on Nagasaki, brought the war to a rapid conclusion. Marvin, along with numerous colleagues, continued to work at the research center in Los Alamos. However, with the cessation of hostilities came a relaxation of the frantic work pace maintained during the war. In the prime of their lives and with time for leisure activity, Marvin and other men from the research center engaged in frequent mountain climbing expeditions to the Colorado Rockies. This initiated Marvin’s lifelong passion for the