Rosie the Riveter Day coming up in Rome

The Museum of Flight located at the Richard B. Russell Airport in Rome will play host to a “Rosie the Riveter Day” in the coming weeks on Saturday, March 16 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Rosie the Riveter was the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers from all over the country to work in defense industries during World War II, because the men of America were enlisting into the armed services, which left a wide gap in the industrial labor force.

Between the years of 1940 and 1945 the female percentage of the U.S. workforce rose from 27 percent to an estimated 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one of every four married woman worked outside the home.

More than 310,000 women worked in America’s aircraft industry and in 1943 made up about 65 percent of the industry’s total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre-war years). Today there are several women who belong to the Rome Chapter Of American Rosie The Riveters Association.

They include Geraldine Anthony age 91 who worked at the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta; Polly Clark age 92, who worked at Camp Shelby Post Exchange and Base Theater in Hattisburg, Miss.

There’s also Bettianne Ware Harris age 90, her Girl Scout Troop rolled bandages for The American Red Cross in LaGrange; Louvinia Jordon, age 96, who worked in Military Intelligence as a code breaker at Arlington Station in Northern Virginia.

Mary McJunkin, age 97, worked at the El Segundo Air Plane Factory in San Pedro, Calif., Joy Mitchell, age 94, was a Registrar at Battey General Hospital in Rome for visitors and a Counselor to patients.

Also included are Lucretia Jane Tucker age 91 worked at the Southeastern Ship Yard as a Liberty Ships rod welder in Savannah, and Nellie Woodall, worked at the Bell Bomber Plant in Marietta.

There are several activities planned for Saturday’s celebration and remembrance, including a Rosie The Riveter Rose Garden dedication, an opportunity to meet and talk with all the Rosie’s. Or try doing one of Rosie’s jobs. Learn to Swing Dance, there will be photo opportunities with the Rosie’s, and actual WWII aircraft that Rosie worked on.

For the children there will be a 4-H Lego project and for everyone 1940’s musical entertainment furnished by GI Jive.