Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Marian Sousa moved to California to care for the children of her sister, Phyllis Gould, who had gone to work as a welder in a Bay Area shipyard.
Just a year later, the 17-year-old Sousa joined the wartime workforce himself, creating blueprints for troop transport and modifying outdated designs. Wearing a helmet and holding a clipboard, she accompanied a maritime inspector aboard the ship where she helped design and inspect the work product.
She and her sister were just two of the approximately 6 million women who went to work during World War II, Rosie with her hair tied back in a handkerchief and the sleeves of her denim shirt rolled up. -He is commemorated with the now iconic recruitment poster depicting The Riveter. and flexing her muscles under the slogan “We can do it!”
More than 80 years later, Sousa, now 98, gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday with about 20 other so-called Rosies — many of them gray-haired and wearing the red-and-white outfit made famous by the poster. Most wore polka dots — and received the Congressional Gold Medal for their efforts.
“I never thought we would be recognized,” Souza said in an interview. “We didn't think about it at all. We were just working for the country and making money on the side.”
After years of lobbying by Mr Gould, who died in 2021, and another Rosie, Mae Clear, who accepted the award on behalf of all Rosies in front of a crowd of around 600 people on Wednesday, Parliament passed the award in 2020. A bill was passed allowing medals to be awarded. Including Congressional leaders.
“It was a man's world until 1941. They didn't know what we women were capable of, you know?” Krier said Wednesday to cheers. “I'm so proud of the women and young girls who are coming after us. I think one of our greatest legacies is what we've done for women. ”
The Rosies went to work out of necessity. During the war, women were desperately needed to fill the jobs vacated by men who left to serve in the military. Shortly after graduating from high school, Sousa accepted the call by taking her six-week course in engineering drafting at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It was a time when everyone went to work,” she says. “This was a time when America was truly united in one effort. We wanted to end the war and get them back.”
When men returned after the war, many women were forced out of their jobs. Still, the experience shaped the rest of their lives and proved that women could do jobs traditionally reserved for men.
“These enterprising and patriotic women answered the call to serve on the Home Front during World War II, forever changing the role of women in the workforce,” said the bill's author, Maine Republican. The proponent, Sen. Susan Collins, said in a speech. Wednesday's ceremony.
Mr. Clear, who has spent years calling for a national Rosie the Riveter Day, built B-17 and B-29 bombers at the Boeing factory in Seattle during the war. She turned 98 years old on March 21st. This day is designated by Congress as National Rosie the Riveter Day.
“I think they were tired of hearing from me, and it's been going on for years,” Clear said in an interview about her efforts to get Rosies more widely recognized. “I'm really happy to finally receive the award.”
Gloria McCormack, 99, attended the ceremony with her daughter, granddaughter and two grandsons. A week after she graduated from high school in 1942, Ms. McCormack took a job as an engineer at a defense factory in Ohio manufacturing machine guns and shipping them to Allied forces overseas.
She recalled going to the factory every day with her father, who worked in a nearby steel mill, and doing machine gun time studies with other teenage girls and military wives. Ms. McCormack recalled in an interview that during her lunch, she and her “girls” went to a restaurant across the street that had a jukebox.
“I put a nickel in it and created a jitterbug,” she said. “We danced all through lunch break.''
Velma Long, 106, earned a Bachelor of Science degree and worked as a clerk and typist in the Navy in Washington during the war. She remembers being the only black woman in her office at the time. She received a letter from her brother, who was stationed overseas, with the text blacked out.
Ms Long, who took further courses and became a social worker after the war, said of receiving the Congressional Gold Medal: “I'm honored and I feel I deserve it.”
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, credited Clear's work with ensuring the Losey family's history is remembered.
“We all know Rosie the Riveter's iconic image, but for too long the amazing women she represented have not gotten the recognition they deserve,” said Rosie and her husband. Casey, who sponsored the bill honoring it, said at Wednesday's ceremony. “World War II would not have been won without Rosie in her hometown.”
Ms. Krie had the following message for young girls today:
“Remember these four little words: We can do it.”