Bio: Matthias, Lt. Col. Franklin T. (Atom Bomb - 09 Aug 1945)

Contact: Robert Lipprandt

Email: bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surname: Matthias

----Source: The Tribune - Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wisconsin) Wednesday, August 10, 2011, page 2

Article reprinted from the Abbotsford Tribune (original published date, August 9, 1945)

Former Abbotsford H.S. Grad Praised for Atom Bomb Work

Lt. Col. Franklin T. Matthias, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Matthias, of Curtiss, is commander of the 400,000 acre secret government plant near Richland, Wash., where 17,000 people have been engaged, without realizing it, in the assembling of the new atomic bomb. 

Col. Matthias entered active service in April 1941, and after two years of service with the Army Engineers at Washington, D. C., he was transferred to Pasco, Wash., to take charge of what was then referred to simply as "a large engineering project."

His two brothers, Lt. Col. Norman and Capt. Carl are also with the Army Engineers.

Lt. Col. Matthias attended the Abbotsford school and was graduated about 1918 and entered West Point.