The time was 1941, the United States had just entered World War II and women were entering the workforce.
World War II provided unprecedented opportunities for women to enter jobs that weren’t open to them before. Prior to that woman worked in “traditionally female” professions like nursing and teaching until they were married. Five million women entered the job market to fill the gap that was created by departing servicemen. Many took jobs in defense plants and factories across the country. Even more women took over the clerical or factory jobs in industries that were not related to defense.
Women joined the military as well — approximately 350,000 of them. They worked as nurses, repaired airplanes and did clerical work. About 1,600 female nurses, including Colonel Sadye M. “Rosie” Rosenthal of Bradford, received various decorations for their service. Rosenthal served as an Army nurse during World War I and World War II, and worked in Army hospitals at West Point and overseas, in Hawaii, Manila, China and Japan.
Margaret Elliott Hall of Bradford served as lieutenant in the U.S Navy during World War II. Female chemists and engineers developed weapons during the war and were recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, developing the atomic bomb. In 1942, the U.S. was faced with a shortage of pilots. The Air Force trained women to fly military aircraft so men could be available to fly on combat missions. This group of pilots was called Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). More than 1,100 women civilian volunteers flew military aircraft, including the B-26 and B-29 bombers. They flew new planes from factories to military bases across the country and tested newly overhauled planes. The WASP program was cancelled two years later. Many WASPs were understandably upset when the Air Force announced in 1976 that it was going to allow women for the first time to fly their aircraft. In 1977, the WASP program was finally granted military status. World War II reinforced the notion that women were here to stay in the workforce.
“Rosie the Riveter” became a cultural icon, representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II. “Rosie” became a symbol that factories used to recruit women into the workforce. The famous poster, created by Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller, was never meant for public display. It was briefly displayed in Westinghouse Electric Corporation plants to deter strikes and absenteeism of employees. Factory worker Naomi Parker Fraley is believed to be the woman in the poster. A picture of Fraley working on a lathe ran in an article published in the Pittsburgh Press in 1942. Miller most likely saw the picture and used Fraley as a model for his poster. In the 1980s, it became associated with feminism.
Locally, women worked the National Munitions Company in Eldred. The company was incorporated in 1941 as an operating loading plant for motor shells, incendiary grenades, thermite aerial bombs and bomb fuses. It was originally founded to supply munitions for the British Air Force and then for the United States. A total of eight million devices were produced by the plant; and 95 percent of the 1,500 employees of the plant were women. These women worked with their friends and neighbors to support the war effort. Most had relatives who were serving in the war. They worked in dangerous conditions. The company took steps to create as safe a working environment as possible.
All employees had to wear special turbines, steel-toe shoes and uniforms with rubber buttons to prevent the creation of static electricity. When working with TNT, one spark could have deadly consequences. Those who worked with TNT were required to shower and change out of their uniforms at the end of their shift. These uniforms were professionally cleaned each day. Women who were exposed to TNT developed a yellow skin tone and were therefore referred to as “Canary Girls.”
SFC Steven G. Appleby, curator of the Eldred World War II Museum added, “Our local girls who worked in the Eldred plant did in fact turn yellow when the temperature and humidity were right while working with explosives. There were some safety regulations but not at all what we have today and during the war it was all about production so corners were cut.”
The plant maintained a well-equipped hospital with nurses on site and a doctor who came in daily and was on call during operational hours. The plant closed in October of 1946 and was slowly dismantled. The Eldred World War II Museum has a display room dedicated to the women who worked in the plant. One visitor to the museum recalled that when he was fighting in the Pacific, he opened a box of grenades and found dozens of pieces of paper covered with lipstick kisses. These brave women who worked in the National Munitions Company were a vital part of the war effort.
Women from McKean County played an important role during World War II both here and in uniform. They gave their brothers, husbands, sons and fathers to the war effort. Our own Rosie the Riveters provided enough munitions for the Allies to defeat the Axis. General Dwight Eisenhower said that he would not be able to win the war without the contributions of women.
At the end of the war, many of the women were forced out of their jobs by the men returning from war and the downturn in demand for war materials. Women veterans were not able to take advantage of benefit programs for veterans, like the G.I Bill. Our local female heroines of World War II were not equally rewarded for their service and would have to wait decades to be recognized. According to Appleby, “The women of the county were part of a national effort to do their part to win the war and without the women on the ‘Home Front’ working in the factories, farms and a multitude of critical jobs, the war may not have been won. And do not forget women entered the military in large numbers for the first time, adding greatly to our overall forces. Many vets of the War tell us ‘We could not have won it without the girls!’”
(Roessler is the marketing and adult programming coordinator for Bradford Area Public Library.)
