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Rosie the Riveter

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Eiregirl

Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 10230
Location: Chasing a pink bunny

Rosie the Riveter

Who was Rosie the Riveter?

Well during WWII the United States was for all intents and purposes the major supplier for the war effort of the Allied forces but with the majority of the able bodied men being sent off to war leaving there jobs behind in the factories and on the farms to be performed by…women. There was even a poster showing a woman rolling up her sleeve and saying “we can do it” and do it they did. There was even a song written titled “Rosie the Riveter” but at the time the poster and song came out it was about a fictional character.

As I said above once the United States entered into the war many women had to enter the workforce in order to keep the supplies flowing. They had to keep these supplies moving not only to supply the war effort but also to keep the country operating. There were between 5 to 7 million American women that went to work and at that time that was an enormous number of women working to keep the country going. The name “Rosie the Riveter” applied to all of them and nobody in particular but…a real Rosie was found…and she was riveting.

The real Rosie the Riveter…
Rose Will Monroe would become the real face behind the name and would become the poster girl for all working women of WWII when Walter Pigeon discovered her in an aircraft parts factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He had gone to the factory to shoot a promotional film for the war when he found out that there was a riveter named Rose working in the factory. Both the hit song "Rosie the Riveter," which was inspired by a Long Island woman named Rosalind Walter and the "We Can Do It" poster had already become worldwide symbols of women working to keep the world moving. With his “find” of a real Rose...Walter Pigeon would make Rose Monroe the real life “Rosie the Riveter”.

Without these women getting jobs and rolling up their sleeves and filling the spots vacated by men sent off to war then there is no doubt in my mind history would be telling a very different story…especially in war torn Europe. During this time women did it all…took care of their families…worked the farms and factories and waited for the war to end.

At the end of the war women were encouraged to quit their jobs and return home to be “homemakers”. Well Rose Monroe, a widowed mother of two, did not do that. She went on to become a taxi driver and later she ran a beauty salon and finally she started a construction company called “Rose Builders” which specialized in building high quality homes. While she was working in an aircraft parts factory she wanted to become a pilot but at that time (during the war) she was not permitted to because she was a single mother. Her dream to fly however stuck with her and in the 1970’s her dream became reality when she got her pilots license and would even teach at least one of her children how to fly.

Roses daughter, Vicki Jarvis, said in an interview, “She could do everything. My mother was the type of person who never believed in government assistance.''

Rose was born in Kentucky in 1920 and died at the age of 77 in Indiana.
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All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.

Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:09 pm

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