Oliver Haywood Oliver Garfield Haywood , Jr . , ( 29 November 1911 – 25 May 2002 ) was a United States Army officer during World War II who served with the Manhattan Project . He transferred to the United States Air Force in 1947 . After retiring from active duty in 1953 , he became President and chief executive officer , and later chairman , of Huyck Corporation . Early life and career . Oliver Garfield Haywood , Jr . , was born in Highland Mills , New York on 29 November 1911 . He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point on 1 July 1932 , and graduated top of the class of 1936 on 12 June 1936 . His class included Bruce Palmer , Jr . , who graduated sixth . Haywood was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers , and was posted to Vicksburg , Mississippi , as executive officer of the Waterways Experiment Station . In June 1937 , went to Conchas Dam in New Mexico as assistant to the District Engineer , Captain Hans Kramer . The dam was under construction at the time , and was a major undertaking . On 25 September 1938 , Haywood entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) as a student officer . While there he was promoted to first lieutenant on 12 June 1939 . On 25 September 1939 , he also became a graduate student at Harvard University ' s Graduate School of Engineering . He received his Master of Science ( MS ) degree from Harvard on 20 June 1940 , and his Doctor of Science ( DSc ) degree from MIT on 15 August . He was promoted to captain on 15 September . World War II . Haywood assumed command of Company C , 27th Engineer Battalion in Puerto Rico on 13 September 1940 . He then commanded the 130th Engineer Battalion there from 16 April 1941 until 31 December 1941 . On 1 January 1942 , he became executive officer of the 78th Engineers there . He was promoted to major in the wartime Army of the United States on 1 February 1942 . He attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , from November 1942 to February 1943 , before returning to Puerto Rico for duty on the staff of the Antilles Department . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 14 February 1943 . In October 1943 , Haywood was assigned to the G - 1 ( Personnel ) Division of the War Department General Staff in Washington , D . C . For his services in this role , he was promoted to colonel on 28 September 1944 , and was awarded the Legion of Merit . On 5 August 1945 , he became Assistant Chief of Staff ( G - 1 ) at headquarters , European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) . For his services during the demobilization , he was awarded a second Legion of Merit . After the war . Haywood was transferred to the headquarters of the Manhattan Project on 12 April 1946 . He was one of a number West Point graduates from the top ten percent of their classes who were transferred to the Manhattan Project at this time by the Secretary of War , Robert P . Patterson , at the request of the Manhattan Project ' s commander , Major General Leslie R . Groves , Jr . , and over the objection of senior Army leaders . Their job was to replace reservists who had worked for the Project during the war and now were eligible for separation from the Army . Haywood participated in Operation " Crossroads " , observing the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll . Groves hoped that a new , permanent agency would soon be created to take over the responsibilities of the wartime Manhattan Project , but passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 through Congress took much longer than expected , and involved considerable debate about the proper role of the military with respect to the development , production and control of nuclear weapons . The act that was finally signed by President Harry S . Truman on 1 August 1946 created a civilian agency , the Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC ) , to take over the functions and assets of the Manhattan Project , but the AEC did not assume its role until 1 January 1947 . At this point , Haywood was seconded to the AEC ' s Directorate of Research . Although he had been a colonel in the Army of the United States , Haywood only held the substantive rank of captain in the Army Corps of Engineers . His Army of the United States rank was terminated on 30 June 1947 , and he returned to duty with the War Department General Staff as a captain on 1 July 1947 . Haywood elected to transfer to the newly created United States Air Force on 10 December 1947 . He became a lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1948 , and was assigned to the Air Plans Division on 29 August 1948 . where he was involved in drawing up nuclear war plans . From July 1949 to May 1950 he attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base , Alabama . Haywood was seconded to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico from February 1950 to October 1951 , at a time when the first thermonuclear weapon s were being developed . Edward Teller once remarked that " Colonel Haywood is the only military man I would work for . " Haywood then served at the chief of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research , and was vice commander of the Atlantic Missile Range until his retirement from active duty in 1953 . He remained with the Air Force Reserve , retiring with the rank of brigadier general in 1967 . Later life . After leaving the Air Force , Haywood became the President and chief executive officer , and later the chairman of the board of Huyck Corporation in Stamford , Connecticut . He was also chairman and acting president of the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis . Haywood died in Vero Beach , Florida , on 25 May 2002 . He was survived by his daughters , Barbara and Betty , and sons , Richard and Robert . His wife , Helen , had predeceased him .