"Rosie the Riveters" in our family

During the early years of World War II (1942?) my mother and my aunt, both named Dorothy worked at the Watervelit Arsenal in Watervelit, NY.  They worked as, what has come to be called,  "Rose the Riveters".  While men were all on the war front in the Pacific, Africa, and Europe, women filled the labor gap in our nation's arsenals where military weapons were manufactured.

My cousin, also a  Dorothy, wrote a beautiful story about her mother during that time of her life.  Our cousin has generously offered to share her story on this blog......Click on the pictures to enlarge the page and you will be able to read it clearly.

and drumroll......our cousin's story about her mother..

Here is a picture of our mothers together (with one other unidentified Rosie) that may have been taken on the grounds of the Watervelit Arsenal

Aunt Dorothy told me that she was very, very good at her job and was swiftly promoted to a more demanding position where she had to be very careful not to "contaminate" the materials with random dust particles.  She was the right person for that job because she was very exacting and precise in her work- and it showed!

Posters, currently on display at the Watervelit Arsenal,  depicting the war effort on the home front and the war front.

The entrance to the Watervelit Arsenal in the 1950s and 1960s