James Edward Westcott was born on January 20, 1922, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of Jamie and Lucille Westcott, and moved to Nashville with his family as a child. ... In 1941, he joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as a photographer in the Corps' Nashville District. 

In December 1942, the Army Corps transferred the 20- year-old Westcott to the Clinton Engineer Works at the then-secret Oak Ridge site. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon during World War II. ... The Manhattan Project was started in response to fears that German scientists had been working on a weapon using nuclear technology since the 1930s—and that Adolf Hitler was prepared to use it.

General Leslie R. Groves, who was appointed to head the project, decided to follow the custom of naming Corps of Engineers districts for the city in which they are located. The atomic bomb project thus became known as the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), or Manhattan Project for short.

"Ed" Westcott was the only photographer allowed to document the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Ed made an especially meritorious contribution to the security and national interests of the United States of America documenting the Manhattan Project and the human experience of life in the first nuclear city, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, beginning in WWII. 

Unfortunately, Ed was never properly recognized for his diligent work on the project. The following website contains helpful information about Mr. Westcott and his work with the Manhattan Project. 

https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Resources/photo_gallery/westcott.htm

Dubbed the Manhattan Project, this secret endeavor brought together scientists and engineers in a $2 billion effort that led to the creation of two atomic weapons and ended World War II.