Memories of my Dad, During WWII Raymond Heiskell, my dad, worked for the U.S. Navy and developed a tracer for 20mm ammunition that had a delayed ignition or dark period after firing (U.S. Patent 2,899,291), in order to prevent blinding the gunner by flash and in order to conceal the location of the gun. Satisfactory tracers of this type had not been previously developed. Captain W.G.Schindler, USN stated that “under most difficult conditions, despite inadequate equipment and with frequent discouraging results, Mr. Heiskell and the group of men under him persevered and were rewarded by the development of an especially effective and successful tracer which is now in use by the Navy. For his outstanding work on this development, Mr. Raymond H. Heiskell is awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award.” The Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet recommended issue of 20mm Anti-Aircraft ammunition with this new tracer up to 50% of the ship’s total allowances, to “contribute materially to the effectiveness of anti-aircraft defense”. My dad was especially proud of this achievement when WWII vets would approach him and thank him for “saving their lives”. They told him that the delayed ignition tracer kept the enemy from locating their position. After WWII he continued to work for the U.S. Navy and was involved in the hydrogen bomb tests at the Eniwetok Islands. My dad told the following story about he and his friend Jim Sartor, who also worked on the hydrogen bomb tests. “One time in 1954 we were walking around one of the Eniwetok Islands, waiting for the test of the second hydrogen bomb. The bomb was stored in the center of a large top secret compound. The area was secured by a high fence and a guarded gate. I said to Jim, ‘I wonder what the bomb looks like’ as we walked toward the gate we could see that there was no guard there. Jim said, ‘Let’s go see.’ We had only a secret clearance so this was forbidden territory. We walked up the dirt road toward the center of the compound – probably the equivalent of two or three long city blocks. There wasn’t a soul in sight. As we approached – there it set on a pedestal. We walked up close but didn’t touch it as we circled around it. We may have had thoughts of respect and fear that the slightest touch might set the thing off. We circled around it for a few minutes and I said to Jim, ‘We got in here very easily but how are we going to get out?’ Jim didn’t say anything until we heard a jeep comping up the road toward us. We looked up and Jim said, ‘We’ll ride out.’ As the jeep pulled up close we could see that the driver was the only occupant, no military police. The driver asked if we wanted a ride. As we climbed in we were both shocked and surprised to see that the driver was Dr. Edward Teller, Father of the Hydrogen Bomb. We breezed past the guard at the gate and Jim and I breathed a sigh of relief.” I have attached a photo of the first underwater hydrogen bomb test at Eniwetok Islands. This picture, about 5 feet by 3 feet, hung over my bed until I was about 15 years old. I remember my dad as always supportive of everything I wanted to do. From making our own fireworks (using some very impressive formulas he developed while working for the Navy), building our yearly Halloween haunted houses, helping with my Boy Scout advancement through Eagle, working on my car, supporting and helping to manage my rock band and helping with every other hobby and endeavor I participated in through college graduation. After he retired from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, he started his own business, Epoxy Coatings Company. This company was started as the result of a need to seal concrete blocks. He and my mom, Edith, built a duplex in San Bruno made of concrete blocks and every winter the house flooded. I remember getting out of bed and stepping in 2 inches of water. So, he developed an epoxy paint that sealed these blocks, and we had dry floors from then on. Over the years he continued to solve industrial problems with custom coatings that he developed.
