VETERANS

Veteran's Story: Meet the New London man who aided leaders of the Manhattan Project

Tim Clark
Correspondent
This old photo shows Dean Bailey at his desk in the Manhattan Project office

Veteran: Dean Bailey, age 90

Branch: United States Army, US Army Reserve

Service period: December 1945 to August 1947

Army Reserve: 1947 to 1955

Driving a tractor-trailer for his Dad’s trucking company when he was 14 proved to be a boon to Dean Bailey’s stint in the United States Army.

“All the men were gone, in the service (during World War II) and we couldn’t get any drivers,” he said. “My first trip, out of state, was in the summer. I went to Akron and picked up a load of Firestone tires, drove to Elba, Alabama, to the Dorsey Trailer Company, where they made Army trailers. Dropped them (load of tires) off, went from there to Thomasville, Georgia, where I picked up a load of tire fabric and then brought it back to Akron. I was 10 days from my 15th birthday and made $40 on that trip.”

(To put his payday in perspective, Bailey’s $40 trip would be equal to a whopping $636 in today’s economy.)

Arthur Dean Bailey was born in Ashland, moving with his family to the New London area at an early age. He attended New London High School, where Dean played football when he wasn’t driving a truck for his father.

“Every night after school I would pick up a load of tire fabric or reclaimed tire (rubber) from Mansfield Tire and Rubber and take it to Port Clinton, to Standard Products; I’d drop the trailer, pick up another (empty) one and bring it back. That was my nightly job.”

U.S. Army veteran Dean Bailey, 90, served from 1945 to 1947. He was a personal aide/driver for Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, who had overall command of the Manhattan Project.

Being that the nation was operating under a rationing system that gave war-related businesses and factories priority when it came fuel and raw materials, Bailey said his Dad’s trucks kept rolling.

“We hauled all kinds of things, too, like beer for the prisoners of Port Clinton; they wouldn’t help me unload it but they sure did drink it,” he laughed.

The "prisoners" Dean referenced were German and Italian prisoners of war held at Camp Perry, along the shores of Lake Erie.

Nearing graduation day in 1945, Dean said he and a couple of his classmates decided to enlist in the military instead of waiting to be drafted.

“We enlisted (in the Army), the three of us, and they (Army recruiter) said we’d stay together. They deferred it (reporting date for basic training) so we could graduate, but we didn’t go until December (1945). We stayed together seven whole days, then the other two went to Texas and I went to Arkansas.”

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Bailey reported to Camp Robinson, just north of Little Rock, Arkansas, for boot camp.

“We got there and it was funny; we formed ranks the first day, there were about 200 of us, and the captain said ‘anybody that can type, step forward.’ Well, I was told never to volunteer for anything, so I didn’t; nobody stepped forward. After we broke ranks I went to the captain and said ‘I can type;' he told me to report to the camp office the next morning, where I started typing the camp roster from then on. The captain asked me where I was from and I told him ‘a little town between Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, New London.' He looked at me, that captain, and said ‘I was born there.’ What a coincidence!”

The connection to his commanding officer paid off halfway through boot camp, as the C.O. arranged a transfer for the young soldier.

“After eight weeks (of basic training) I got transferred to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, because they needed somebody that could drive a semi (tractor-trailer) and type. I was put in charge of laundry for 75 guys; I would take it (soiled laundry) to Chattanooga to get it washed; you could’ve put it all in a pickup truck but I had this semi," Dean said. “Twice a week I did that (delivered laundry). I lived in a dormitory at Oak Ridge for three weeks, but then they (Army) wanted someone to come to Washington, D.C., to be a personal aide and chauffeur for General Groves.”

Lieutenant General Leslie Groves was an officer of great significance; he was placed in overall command of what was known as the then-top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 — the research, development and eventual use of the atomic bomb. Implementation of those first nuclear weapons had been directly responsible for the surrender of Japan on Sept. 2, 1945, ending the WWII and saving hundreds of thousands of American lives by averting the need for invasion of the Japanese mainland.

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“I’d never seen anyone higher in rank than a captain," Bailey said. “I’d never seen Washington before and I was supposed to take him (Lt. Gen. Groves) to the British embassy. They gave me a picture of him (Groves) and I saw him come out of the War Department building, so I got out and opened up the back door, it was a black Chevrolet sedan. I put him in the back seat and he said ‘I want to go to the British embassy.’ I looked at him and said, ‘I’m sorry, General, but I have never been in Washington in my entire life and I have no idea where we’re going.’ He said, ‘That’s all right, private, I’ll show you the shortcuts. I don’t want you opening the door for me, I’ll ride in the front seat with you from now on.’ From then on, I (took the general) everywhere, and it wasn’t long before I made staff sergeant.”

Bailey had other duties while acting as Lt. General Groves’ aide.

“I went to the Union Station every day and got the mail for the Manhattan Project; on the way back (to the project office) I was to buy three different newspapers: the New York, Baltimore and Washington papers. I would then sit and read all three; if there was anything (about the project) I had to date it, set it out and put it on his (Groves’) desk.”

Staff Sergeant Bailey had the opportunity to chauffeur two other persons of note from WWII: British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who had been in overall command of British forces during the war; and Professor J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist who was known as the "father of the atomic bomb."

Dean’s tour with the U.S. Army came to an end in August 1947; he then spent another eight years in the Army Reserve. His unit was not activated during the Korean War.

Returning to New London, Bailey continued working with his father, who had begun selling International trucks; utilizing the G.I. Bill, Dean also attended the General Motors Institute in Michigan.

“I was there for 18 months, I think, and studied dealership management.”

Bailey then returned home and transformed the family business into Bailey Pontiac and International, a company he ran for 58 years. He retired in 2007.

That wasn’t all Dean was involved in.

“I drove ambulance for the (local) funeral director. In 1963, when (President John) Kennedy was shot, the next day we had a fire in Fitchville where 63 people perished in a nursing home. I helped with that and the (New London) fire chief came to me after that incident and asked if I’d join the fire department. I said, ‘Well, I guess I could.’ He threw me a rubber coat, hip boots and a construction helmet and I was a fireman. That was in January of 1964.”

In all, Dean Bailey would remain with the New London Volunteer Fire Department for 49 years, finally ending his service in 2012 at the age of 84. He served as the department’s chief from 1980 to 1994.

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Bailey is a member of the American Legion Post 292 in New London and was recently recognized for 70 years of continuous membership. He remains a member of the post’s honor guard and still marches in parades, often at the very head, carrying the American flag.

He has been a Mason since 1949.

Dean and his life mate, Yvonne Westover, still reside in New London. Bailey enjoys mowing, traveling, camping and deer hunting with a bow, and also fabricates heavy-gauge flag poles for anyone in need.

Recalling his active duty service in the Army, the nonagenarian quipped, “it wasn’t what I knew, it was who I knew,” he smiled. “It was great.”

Tim Clark, a retired local law enforcement officer, is now a freelance writer and has a blog, Through an Old Cop's Eyes. Clark can be reached at oldcop135@gmail.com.