Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Cold War remembrance a slice of history

By Ken Robertson, Herald Executive Editor

Of all the conflicts the world titled “war” during the 20th century, none lasted as long as the Cold War, which is generally recognized as lasting from 1945 until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Those of us old enough to recall that era probably remember only bits and pieces of its 46-year duration. Phrases like the Berlin Airlift, fallout shelters, ICBMs, A-bombs and H-bombs became part of our national vocabulary during an era that lasted nearly eight times as long as World War II.

World War II can be credited with creating the Tri-Cities, but it was the Cold War that saw our community grow into a metropolitan area of about 105,000 by 1991.

Although the Tri-Cities slowly diversified, producing nuclear weapons materials was the backbone of our economy for nearly five decades.

During that time, tens of thousands of people worked at Hanford to produce the plutonium that became the key deterrent to what many feared most during the Cold War era — World War III.

Young men and women flocked to the Tri-Cities for the high-paying jobs, married, had families and saw grandchildren and maybe even great-grandchildren arrive.

In exchange for those opportunities, many sacrificed their health and some even their lives because they worked with radioactive materials and other hazardous substances.

Their contributions to and sacrifices for our nation have too often been overlooked.

But on Friday, the Tri-Cities, the Herald, the Department of Energy and Hanford’s current contractors that work for DOE will mark the day by honoring those who worked at Hanford and built the Tri-Cities.

Friday’s Herald contains a 16-page special section observing this national day of remembrance. And tricityherald.com has all the content of this section, plus a huge set of photo galleries that contain 771 photos provided by DOE.

For a look back at our history go to tri-cityherald.com/1562/index.

The stories and photos capture almost every element of life in the Tri-Cities, from our families to civil defense efforts to the hazardous jobs Hanford workers performed.

Take some time to look. And then thank the men and women who helped safeguard our nation.

w Ken Robertson: 582-1520; krobertson@tricityherald.com

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