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Don't forget the Rosie the Riveters?


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Flame cutting of a slab is done by four-torch machine controlled and operated by one woman. Alice Jo Barker (above) has a husband and son who also work in war industries.

 

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Transfer car operator Mae Harris, 23, signals crane man above to return the empty, hot metal ladle to the transfer car (left). The ladle has contained molten iron which has poured into an open-hearth furnace. In the furnace the molten iron is added to molten scrap which, together with iron ore and fluxes, results in finished steel after refinement.

 

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In the foundry of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co., these women are at work as core-makers. A total of 18 women employed here on two shifts. The core-maker's functions are like those of a sculptor, and the implements used are trowels, spatulas and mallets. Castings being made in this picture are for use not only at Carnegie-Illinois but at other plants

 

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On aircraft carrier deck women work as welders and scrapers. Girls alongside this steel prefabricated deck section who are without headgear and masks operate tools which scrape loose surface imperfections in preparation for welding. The welder in foreground has her name, 'Jakie,' written on helmet, a popular style note among lady welders.

 

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Those are great! They really help to illustrate how dangerous (and vital!) their jobs were.

 

RC

 

Glad you enjoyed them. Did you notice the picture of the woman who took the job that her twin brother had? She took his place after the joined the Marines. It was also interesting how many Mothers worked in the mills.

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I recall hearing about a sailor whose life was saved by a life preserver that had been inspected by his mother. It was in a 'Ripley's Believe it or not' magazine years ago. I can't verify the story, but of course it does underscore the importance for many who joined the defense industries. The lives they saved might have been that of their own family.

 

RC

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At the Pine Bluff Chemical Warfare Arsenal explosion, Ann Marie Young earned the highest honor that the War Department gave to civilian for her valor in saving others from the fire. According to writer Kathryn Blood, a Brigadier General praised Young’s “Calm judgment and presence of mind.”

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I think more than a few did sacrifice their lives. Ordnance factories aren't always safe.

 

I have not been able to find a count of civilians killed while working at various factories. I did find this reference in a book “Machines often malfunctioned, and training was virtually non-existent….After major explosions in Elkton, Maryland and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, killed dozens of women, there was improvement, as some companies for example began ‘corn colleges’ in which new employees learned to load shells by practicing with corn instead of explosive pellets."

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At VETs stadium in Long Beach there is the old boeing pant.

Across the street I came across a Rosie statue in a small park.

When I go to the swop meet next month I will picture the statue.

Its real cool indeed.

The work the women did was a credit to their skill and fortitude.

owen

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I will picture it from all angles.

Its really cool and honestly made me smile and feel pride inside seeing it as I had a business a few miles near it for many years and did NOT even know it was there.

If I knew it was there it would have been my lunch time park chow in down on goodies !!!!

 

give me 4 weeks till I am in that area please and I will get the report going..

 

owen

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thefallenbuddha

My grandmother worked at that Douglas (now Boeing) plant in Long Beach during the war. Still have her ID, her "E for effort," her plant air raid warden armband, and some other tokens all the employees received when the factory reached various production goals. I attended the opening ceremony with her for that monument, but she passed away shortly thereafter.

 

I've always felt her best "war story" was how she and a few others brewed a cider alcohol in a discarded fuel tank at the plant and got rather "tanked" at the factory on VJ day.......( as well as on a few other occasions) !

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