BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — A new movie about the atomic bomb brings to mind the role of a Pike County man in its development.
The film “Oppenheimer” chronicles the story of the man who produced the weapon dropped twice on Japan during World War II.
What isn’t covered is the critical role played by Admiral William Reynolds Purnell.
The Bowling Green native was one of three members of the Military Policy Committee, the panel that oversaw the Manhattan Project – the code name for creation of the bomb. The committee was the ultimate authority over the project.
Purnell was one of the first advocates of dropping two bombs in succession. He got in on the second by scrawling a message to the Japanese emperor on it. Just before the plane left for Nagasaki, Purnell wrote “A second kiss for Hirohito.”
After the war, Purnell continued to oversee nuclear testing. He died on March 5, 1955, in Palo Alto, Calif.
A portrait of the admiral can be found along the north wall on the first floor of the Pike County Courthouse in Bowling Green.