Rosie the Riveter

On March 23, 2009, I presented the keynote address, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, at the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Club of GFWC's 101st Public Affairs Day. Two women war workers were in the audience--Ruth Siuta, who did what was called an "essential civilian" job at the Air Force Base in Rome, New York, and Rosalie Cutitta, a riveter who worked on bomber planes like the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Grumman Avenger at the Fleetwings Plant in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Despite suffering hearing damage, Rosalie says she would do it again. Here's a video clip of her comments, including her story about driving across the Delaware River on the Burlington-Bristol Bridge from her home in New Jersey to the factory in Pennsylvania. Ruth Siuta is at the left in the video. On the right is, Anne H. Redlus, president of the New Jersey Federation, who organized the marvelous event. Rosalie and Ruth received a standing ovation from the appreciative audience.

Rosie the Riveter

Last night I gave my Rosie the Riveter PowerPoint speech to a terrific audience. Marilyn Hindenlang brought the Certification of Commendation that the Navy awarded to her mother when she worked at Grumman. Her mother's name--I. F. Norton --is on the certificate and she received it on September 2, 1945 (my first birthday!). The "I" is for Irene and the F is for Florence. Norton was her married name; she started work with her original last name--Kacinski. Thank you to Marilyn for sharing this important document; workers at only 5% of all defense factories earned this commendation. Her husband kindly scanned it and made a pdf file and a copy for me.
During the Q & A, a feisty woman said that didn't like the fact that "Rosie the Riveter" became the catch-all phrase during the war for women workers. "It was that song," she said. "It overshadowed the fact that lots of us were doing other things--I operated a lathe machine and then a press and other machines!" At which point, everyone spontaneously applauded her. "Thank you for your service," someone called out! Yes, thank you.
This was my first PowerPoint in which I inserted video clips from WWII propaganda films aimed at recruiting housewives--happily they worked beautifully & added another dimension to the story.

Dot from Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II

Teachers who are taking one of the courses I teach at Queens College, read Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II and were delighted to learn that Dot Chastney whose memories I use throughout Rosie appears (under her married name Dot Emer) in my forthcoming book Thanksgiving: The True Story. "After reading Rosie, I feel that I know Dot," enthused Patricia, a kindergarten teacher. "Please say 'hello' to her from me."
When I said that Dot had recently emailed a picture, they asked me to post it (a picture of Dot in third grade is in Rosie, p. 1.) With Dot's permission, here is a picture of her with the Lama Tenzin along with excerpts from her email. But first a brief update: Having retired as the children's librarian in Englewood, NJ, Dot and her husband Ralph (who also appears in Thanksgiving: The True Story) moved to Boca Raton, Florida where Dot is a middle school librarian at Saint Andrew's.

"We're having an interesting week at school," she wrote. "The Friends of the Arts have brought a Buddhist monk, Lama Tenzin, on campus to create a mandala. Have you ever seen one? It's a beautiful design all made of colored sand . . . . He's working on the mandala in the foyer to the dining hall and so all the kids get to watch him as they go back and forth to meals . . . . On Thursday after lunch they will sweep all the sand into jars and carry them to the pond for a ceremony, returning sand to the earth and spreading it throughout the world . . . . The Lama has a very good sense of humor and seems to enjoy talking to everyone."

p.s. Update from Dot in response to a request from my students that she send them a message: "I'll think about something relevant to write to your students. Right now we're on spring break until April 1. I brought home a stack of books to read from my new book shipment of about 400 books! Perhaps I could make some comment about doing that and my reactions to what I'm reading, AND my frustrations with some of the books. I can also make a few comments about non-fiction books I buy."

Rosie the Riveter

Rose M. Keene, a riveter and welder who helped build the Battleship New Jersey during World War II, came to my talk on "Rosie the Riveter" at the Camden Historical Society, Camden, NJ on Sunday, March 9. She recalled everything--the molding she welded around the officers' bunk, where she riveted, what she wore, and her boss Orville "Pop Robbie" Robinson. "He was constantly bugging me," she said. "So I took him home, introduced him to my mother, and he married her!"


In the top picture, I am giving Rose a close-up look at my PowerPoint. She was fascinated with the primary source documents--advertisements, photos, etc. We were a tag team as we talked about each image--me from my research, her from her first-hand experience. Along with an image of the sheet music for the "Rosie the Riveter" song, I had inserted the sound. When I click on the icon (all new technology for Rose), she immediately started singing along and dancing in her chair! Rose's granddaughter Debbie is standing behind her. Sovonne Ukam is standing behind me. Bottom picture: She also loved seeing all the pictures in my book, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II. I, of course, gave her a specially autographed copy of my book. In the spring, Rose is taking her 8-year grandson Damian on a tour of the "New Jersey." She wants him to "know what I did to help win the war!" I am planning to go with them. These unexpected encounters are one of the perks about being a writer.


A modern picture of The Battleship New Jersey, now a museum located on the Camden side of the Delaware River (Philadelphia skyline is the in the background).