Associated notes provided by the author’s daughter describe this paper as a memoir, and that is accurate. Mooers recounts his involvement with the Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) computer project. His thesis, though, is that John V. Atanasoff was a poor leader--often absent, not motivating the team of people involved, and not providing technical direction--and that John Mauchly was a source of inspiration. The notes refer to Mauchly as Mooers’ long-time friend and mentor. The paper itself ends with an observation that failed projects are ordinarily not documented, but that this one deserves to be because of “willful falsification” in the history of the profession and in the “character assassination” of Mauchly. The style is that of an informal reminiscence; there are no references to other documents.