Guralnick, Robert
- Object Type
- Oral history
- Object ID
- 14774
- Date
- September 25 2012
- Description
- Bronx native Robert Guralnick began work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a student apprentice before the Second World War. After serving on a non-combative Navy ship during the war, he returned to the Yard to finish his apprenticeship as a machinist. Transferring to the Material Laboratory (later to become the Applied Science Laboratory), he continued work as a model maker and unknowingly helped contribute to the building of the Polaris submarine.
While employed on the Yard, Guralnick became a union leader and participated in recreational activities like softball. In 1966, he witnessed the closing of the Yard and attempted to fight against it unsuccessfully. Despite the layoffs, he remained working in the separately coordinated Applied Science Laboratory after the Yard closed. The later part of his career was carried out as an inspector for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection through which he had the opportunity to travel worldwide on assignment. - Related Collection
- Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project
- Subjects
- Labor and Yard Workers, Leisure and Recreation
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