My mother Helen (nee Joiner) Beaudet was a proud "Rosie" at the Dodge Chicago Plant from 1943-1945. Mom was born in Chicago in 1923 but became a ward of the state when her mother died in childbirth when mom was only two years old. She spent her childhood in an orphanage.  Mom was 18 when the U.S. entered the war and was eager to do her part, including doing work that could be hard and dangerous. 

Helen Marie Janning Guthrie worked the family farm in Western Oklahoma to provide wheat for the troops in World War II.

Born in 1930 and living through the Dust Bowl and helping her father FR Janning work the farm, she became a much more important contributor when her three brothers went to War. When her brother Tex was called to War just before Christmas, she asked her mother, “What are we going to do?’ Her mother responded,” We are going to have Christmas.”

“My four brothers are in service. I want to do as much as I can to see that plenty of ammunition and supplies reach them.”

Mary Ann Montegna Speaks at Rally

“Payroll Savings Day” - 1943

Mary Ann Montegna of CMPC’s Molding Department, in company with employees of other industrial plants, was a guest speaker at a Bond Rally held at State and Madison Sts.

Mary Ann, dressed in the blue blouse, slacks and bandanna which she wears on her job, gave her reasons for working at CMPC, molding plastics mortar shell fuzes:

“My four brothers are in service. I want to do as much as I can to see that plenty of ammunitions and supplies reach them. The job I do is small in comparison to what they are doing to help win this war, but at least I fell like ‘one of the family.’

During my 18th summer I traveled from our farm in Iowa to see my fiancé, Dave on his first leave in Minneapolis from the Navy May 18-26, in 1943, and decided to stay. My sister, Leota and her husband, Del, lived there and were happy to have me stay at their home at 3216 Hennepin Avenue.

Mom and Auntie were surprised to hear that their childhood efforts qualify them as Rosies. “We were just doing our part, nothing special…” and yet we all know how theirs and the hands of many children made a big difference. “We Can Do It!” And they sure did.

Evie worked with her dad in his plumbing business and donated many evenings at Port Huron Hospital.

She never saw her contribution to the home front as anything special. That’s the thing about her generation. They were willing to step up and do what needed to be done.

Rose and her friend Laura went on to work as a team at Vega, the Lockheed Aircraft parts division, in Burbank. Rose worked there from 1942 until World War II ended. In their production team, Rose was indeed the riveter, and Laura would assist her in the process with the parts as the “bucker”.

Loretta worked at the General Motor plant in Tarrytown for three years, working to assemble the cockpit of the Navy’s Avenger fighter plane. It was this experience where she received the title of Rosie the Riveter. She prided herself on this achievement and is recognized as an official Rosie the Riveter.

I walked right in lockstep behind my lead man, and every time he’d point to something, I’d say, “ I can do that!” Finally he said, “Well, do it!”

While the full extent of what Eliza worked on during the war is unknown, she worked on P-47 fighter parts and later worked on the bell helicopters used in Korea.

Upon greeting these two young women, the crop farmer, Guy Smith, scratched his head as to how these two small, scrawny, females were going to work out! But they did and won the farmer over with their efforts! It was quite an experience and while it was very different from what they were accustomed to, they had the time of their lives, working hard, distracting themselves from missing their husbands.

While at Willow Run, Laura was promoted to machine press operator, a position she held when Ford asked her to stay on with the company after the war was over in 1945.

I was 23 in 1944 and was trained to install machine gunsights inside the ball turret of the planes. It was quite an experience being just one of the thousands who worked at the B-29 plant — along with many whose loved ones would be killed in action.

She became visibly proud to report that her boss at Consolidated refused to even provide her a drafting table or chair in the beginning. She said that she knew she had done well the morning she came to work to find her own chair and drafting table.

Betty loved her job as an aircraft mechanic and has always been proud of her work in the war effort.

Corrine Schlom entered the Cadet Nursing Program in 1944, as part of the Bolton Act of 1943 to call up nurses for national service during WWII.

She had the opportunity to attend Smith College for two years. After her sophomore year, she left college to work in a factory, painting aircraft nose cones.

I am very proud of my “Rosie the Riveter”; I miss her every day. She was just as much of a war hero as my father.