This is the tale of two Mercer County boys who without knowledge of the other became inexorably linked through the development and dropping of the atom bomb in the waning days of World War II.

One grew up in Stoneboro, the other in Mercer. Both enlisted in the military after the war broke out and both eventually lent a small hand to history.

Fred Houser, 78, of Stoneboro and John G. "Jerry" Johnson, 80, of Mercer told their stories Thursday at the Mercer County Historical Society's annual dinner. Both are members of the historical society.

Houser was what today might be called a buck sergeant in the 98th/12th Technical Service Unit, Corps of Engineers, that helped build and develop the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb that leveled Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after "Little Boy" or "Thin Man" had obliterated Hiroshima.

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