Eugene DiSabatino was born in 1922 in Wilmington, Delaware. He grew up and attended school there. His family owned an old line construction company in Wilmington. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: on 7 December 1941], DiSabatino attempted to enlist, but he was colored blind. He joined the Enlisted Reserve Corps for college students. The students would go through basic training, but return to college for further education. He would ultimately go into the Army, but was restricted as to what duty he could perform. After entry into the Army, DiSabatino went to Texas for basic training. The training lasted 16 weeks. He was then sent to the University of Connecticut for further education. Since he already had a degree in civil engineering, there were no new classes available for him to take there so he was sent to MIT [Annotator's Note: Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and NYU [Annotator's Note: New York University] for additional education. DiSabatino was selected for Los Alamos after a group of officers came to his class at NYU. They interviewed him and told him that he would be sent to a different location. He would initially be sent to Oakridge, Tennessee [Annotator's Note: Oakridge, Tennessee contained a highly restricted facility that enriched the uranium used for the Manhattan Project] but later be sent to Los Alamos. The trip out west was by train. There was no air conditioning on the trip to Lamy, New Mexico. From Lamy, DiSabatino was transported by Army truck to Los Alamos. His first contact at Los Alamos was Major de Silva [Annotator's Note: US Army Major Peer de Silva] who was in charge of security. The officer read the rules to the new arrivals and briefed them on security at the facility. At Oakridge, DiSabatino had no idea about what was underway with the project. The same was true upon his arrival at Los Alamos. This was standard for Army personnel. In the service, an individual did his job and often did not know how it related to other goings on. Two days after the security briefing by de Silva, the new arrivals were gathered in a large assembly area. They were interviewed by a group of physicists. As it turned out, DiSabatino was the last man to be interviewed. Norman Ramsey saw him and began the process although he did not know what he would do with a civil engineer. Ramsey took DiSabatino and by the end of the day explained what was going on in the facility. No other GIs that DiSabatino knew understood the big picture like he did after Ramsey walked him through it that day. Ramsey explained that the project dealt with building a big bomb. His task was to develop the delivery system for that bomb to be dropped on Japan. There were only five men in the Delivery Group that Ramsey led and that DiSabatino joined.

Eugene DiSabatino worked on Ballistic Tables as part of the delivery system for the Manhattan Project in the development of atomic bombs. The bombs were planned for release over Japan. A pilot and bombardier would fly Army Air Forces bombers from Wendover Field [Annotator's Note: Wendover Army Air Field is now known as Wendover Airport and is located in Wendover, Utah] as part of the testing exercises. The bombers used Pumpkin Bombs to simulate the bomb drop while filming the sequence of activity. [Annotator's Note: Pumpkin Bombs were built in limited quantities during the latter part of the war to replicate the size of the Fat Man Plutonium atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Many were used in training exercises, but some were dropped in actual combat conditions on Japan.] After examining the film of the bomb drops, DiSabatino and his group would evaluate the bomb reactions in different drop conditions. The team would calculate the settings needed on the bomb sighting equipment in order to achieve the required accuracy in the delivery of the new ordnance being developed. Three GIs and DiSabatino worked on the project for some time. DiSabatino went to Wendover when the 509th Composite Group transferred there from Europe. He was selected to manage Wendover's operations. He traveled from Los Alamos to Wendover by taking a long route in civilian clothing. This was done as a security measure. His status in the armed forces was never disclosed to the general population during the course of the development of the atomic bomb. At Wendover, he wore civilian clothes even though he was a sergeant in the Army. At times, some servicemen thought he was a draft dodger and would taunt him. The training flights that flew out of Wendover would fly over the west coast en route to Salton Sea [Annotator's Note: Salton Sea Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Southern California]. This simulated their ultimate mission of flying long distances to deliver the ordnance over Japan. At Salton Sea, the Pumpkin Bomb would be dropped to attempt improved accuracy. If the bomb missed the target substantially, it would be dug up to examine whether the fins were damaged or some other physical abnormality existed which might have caused poor accuracy. One of the goals for the training missions was for the aircraft to fly long distances during which the crew would make targeting adjustments while in flight. DiSabatino would film the bomb drops so that analysis on the degree of success could be performed. During this time, DiSabatino would only don his uniform when he had to return to Los Alamos in order to be paid. After that, he would be driven by a WAC [Annotator's Note: a member of the Women's Army Corps] back to Wendover where he would replace his uniform with civilian clothes prior to being seen by the force on the base. In the first six months that DiSabatino spent at Los Alamos, he familiarized himself with Hollywood film splicing equipment that he would use for the tasks he had to perform in bomb testing at Wendover. Marriage for DiSabatino would not come until after the dropping of the atomic bombs and the end of the war.

Eugene DiSabatino arrived at Los Alamos and discovered that it sat on top of a mountain. In order to reach the entry to the facility, it was necessary to drive up a treacherous mountain road. Once the new arrival cleared the security gate, the first encounter was with the technical portion of the facility followed by the military portion of the base. The technical portion included the original boy's school upon which the facility had its origin. Beyond those locations, one came upon the restricted areas that required clearances to transit. DiSabatino met his future wife during this time of his life. She was a secretary to Admiral Parsons [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral William Parsons was the ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project and armed the atomic bomb aboard the Enola Gay while in flight to Hiroshima] and Ramsey [Annotator's Note: Norman Ramsey was a physicist in charge of the delivery system for the atomic bomb]. She was a lead person in the office because of her office skills and her Berkley college experience. DiSabatino spotted her and asked for a date but was initially rebuked. Later, she would agree to go out with him, and that was all that he needed. He took it from there. DiSabatino met Dick Ashworth when he was commander at Los Alamos. [Annotator’s Note: US Navy Vice Admiral Fredrick "Dick" Ashworth supervised testing of components of the atomic bomb at Wendover and selected Tinian as the base for the 509th Composite Group in the Pacific for the drop of the atomic bombs. He armed the atomic bomb on Bockscar while in flight to the drop zone on Nagasaki.] He was a weapons officer and DiSabatino would eventually work with him. He was a fine fellow. Ashworth would direct Salton Sea [Annotator's Note: Salton Sea Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Southern California] activities even though he remained in Los Alamos. Many of the inhabitants in Los Alamos had to travel the country to inspect items being developed remotely. To do so, civilians would sometimes wear military uniforms to travel to places such as DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware. It was part of the security scheme on the project. To DiSabatino's knowledge, he was the only military man who would wear civilian clothing while traveling remotely from his base of operation and assignment.

Eugene DiSabatino had to return to his home in Wilmington, Delaware in order to find more civilian clothes that he could wear while performing his duties on the Manhattan Project. Because of security, he could not tell his father what he was doing during the war. His father looked at him in civilian clothes while most of the other young men were in uniform and questioned his son what he was contributing to the war effort. DiSabatino was not allowed to tell anyone, not even his father, what his role was in winning the war. This provoked skepticism on his father's part. In looking over his wardrobe at home, DiSabatino told his father that he would have to travel to Philadelphia to buy more civilian clothes. His father became even more suspicious, but he knew by then that his son would not tell him why he was gathering so much civilian clothes. His father, nevertheless, was providing dollars for the purchases that his son was making. While driving his father back to Wilmington, DiSabatino inadvertently ran a red light. He was stopped by a policeman who looked him over and questioned why he was in civilian clothing when so many young men were in uniform. To relieve the situation, DiSabatino showed the officer a card which had been issued to him by the Manhattan Project that indicated only that he was on a special project and that he should not be delayed or disrupted. The policeman read the card and virtually threw it back to DiSabatino and then allowed the two men to proceed without further questioning. This intrigued DiSabatino's father even more, but he could not view the card without breaking security rules. His father wanted to see the card, but could not because of Los Alamos security.

Eugene DiSabatino had to disguise his military status and rank both on and off the base at Wendover Air Field. There was only a small casino nearby and nothing else for entertainment. The uniformed individuals could not understand why he was a civilian in their midst. When the 509th Composite Group arrived from Europe to begin their training, he would see Colonel Paul Tibbets, but never spend much time with him because of the Colonel's other duties. There were quite a few other officers from the 509th that DiSabatino grew to know. Those officers were friendly toward him and realized that he was just another of the civilians working on the project. DiSabatino enjoyed leisure time with some of them. They held no animosity toward him as he shuttled back and forth between Wendover and Salton Sea [Annotator's Note: Salton Sea Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Southern California].

Eugene DiSabatino worked with Dick Ashworth. [Annotator's Note: US Navy Vice Admiral Fredrick "Dick" Ashworth supervised testing of components of the atomic bomb at Wendover Field and selected Tinian as the base for the 509th Composite Group in the Pacific for the drop of the atomic bombs. He armed the atomic bomb on Bockscar while in flight to the drop zone on Nagasaki.] They kept in touch even while DiSabatino was at Salton Sea [Annotator's Note: Salton Sea Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Southern California]. Ashworth was a great guy, but he was the leader of the project. When the bombs went overseas, Ashworth would be in charge. At one time, DiSabatino attempted to get a Navy commission but received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Army at Fort Bliss instead. He was sent to Hamilton Field to prepare to go overseas. He had to go through several days of injections in preparation. During that time, he was allowed to roam San Francisco. It was rewarding to see the recognition he received as an Army second lieutenant. When he transferred overseas, he was sent to Saipan with orders to report to General Curtis LeMay [Annotator's Note: USAAF then USAF General Curtis Lemay]. Upon arrival, the desk sergeant told him to go to Tinian since most orders showed that the individuals were to report directly to General LeMay.

Eugene DiSabatino arrived at Tinian and saw that the portion of the island that was being used by the 509th Composite Group and the Manhattan Project was isolated from the rest of the island. A pit had been constructed to lower an atomic bomb into prior to loading it into the B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] bomb bay. The bomber would taxi over the pit and the bomb would be elevated into the bomb bay position. Prior to that point, the bomb would be stored in a metal building adjacent to the pit. To the best of DiSabatino's knowledge, he was the last man to touch the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Individuals in the metal building spent time writing inscriptions on the bomb that was about to be loaded onto Bockscar [Annotator's Note: Bockscar was the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki]. Before the Nagasaki bomb was brought out of the metal building, an embedded reporter captured the notes and inscriptions that were written on the bomb by the various individuals who were present. Security on Tinian was very tight. After the bomb's departure from Tinian, there was no further need for DiSabatino to be present on the island. DiSabatino listened on an Army radio to the progress of the flight and heard of the success of the bomb over Nagasaki. Before the use of the two atomic bombs, dummy bombs [Annotator’s Note: probably Pumpkin Bombs, conventional munitions designed to mimic the size, weight, and drop characteristics of the atomic bomb] were being dropped on adjacent Japanese held islands. This was being done for testing and training purposes. After the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, the Emperor decided that the war had to end. There was concern that more bombs would fall on Japan, but there were no bombs immediately available. Others were being developed at that time for further use on Japan if necessary. After two weeks, DiSabatino left Tinian and returned to Los Alamos. By that time, a group of scientists had begun to question the validity of the atomic bomb usage on Japan. DiSabatino was of a different opinion as those scientists. Atomic power should be harnessed and used for good. After the dropping of the two atomic bombs, DiSabatino knew the war was over and so was his responsibility to the Manhattan Project.

Eugene DiSabatino finally let his father know what he was working on during the war. [Annotator's Note: The Manhattan Project security, as it applied to DiSabatino, was no longer as restrictive after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.] In retrospect, the Project work that was done at Los Alamos was impressive. Following discharge, DiSabatino worked in the family construction business. The company had been in operation over 100 years. The business had been started by his grandfather with DiSabatino's father and uncle assisting his grandfather. Because of his engineering background and education, DiSabatino ran the construction business after he left the service. In the years of his management of the company, there were multiple run-ins with various trade unions. The issues became so serious that DiSabatino had his life threatened on several occasions. Criminal types would attempt to intimidate him. He had other union contacts that helped to protect him. The issues would often times arise over union jurisdictional disputes. During the course of those conflicts, he came in contact with people such as Jimmy Hoffa and various Mafia connected individuals. [Annotator's Note: James R. "Jimmy" Hoffa was the leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971 when he disappeared. The cause of his disappearance or death has never been discovered but it was assumed to be Mafia related.] The threats to DiSabatino's life and his business were real. He managed to survive all the disputes. DiSabatino managed to do his assignments during the war because he knew how to stick to his job and use his reasonable knowledge to find solutions. Unlike some individuals, he has not been criticized for his role in the dropping of the atomic bombs. Some people feel as if that time frame was a completely different time that they are not connected to in today's world. As for DiSabatino, he knew he was at the right place at the right time to make his contribution.