Faces from the factory: Help us identify the women from Verdun’s DIL

In the United States, she was dubbed Rosie the Riveter. The song written in her honour, by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb in 1942, made the top of the hit parade. She was also portrayed on a poster, created by artist J. Howard Miller, that carried the caption “We can do it!”

In Canada, the cultural icon representing the women who worked in defence weapon factories during the Second World War was Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl, borrowed from the name of the real woman, Veronica Foster, who posed for the posters.

The photo below, of a group of women who worked in the Defence Industries Limited munitions factory in Verdun, was found among the possessions of my late uncle, Fr. Francis Malone, C.S.S.R., who had been a priest at St. Ann’s in Griffintown in the early 1940s. (It was his first parish.) At first, I mistook it for an amateur theatre shot — possibly of the cast of a musical called Rosie and Her Riveters.

Later, I noticed what was written on the back of the photo: “DIL Verdun, Quality Control Department,” followed by a coy “can you find me?” plus the date, 1944, and a helpful hint: “1st in 1st row.”

On the front of the photo, in addition to the humorous, misspelled

It would be wonderful to be able to name all of the 43 Montreal women who are in the photo below.

caption “Rosie and her riviters — Montreal,” there are the initials K.P. and an arrow pointing to a young woman, whom I later tentatively identified (by cross-referencing) as Kay Bourbonnais, one of a group of Griffintown women who treated Fr. Francis like a member of their fam- ilies for the rest of his life.

Last year, when I heard about David Fennario’s play Motherhouse, inspired by his mother, Peggy, who was a DIL factory worker during the Second World War, I made a mental note to dig up this photo, hoping to find her in the group. But I didn’t get around to locating it until this week.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find Fennario’s mother’s face in the photo. This wasn’t surprising, given that the DIL plant, which produced small arms ammunition during the First World War as well as the Second, had more than 6,000 employees during the 1939-1945 war.

But it would be wonderful to be able to name all of the 43 Montreal women who are in the photo.

If you spot a mother, grandmother or neighbour, please let me know by email or Twitter.

FR. F.M. MALONE COLLECTION, COURTESY OF PAT DONNELLY Theatre critic Pat Donnelly found this photo of employees of Verdun’s Defence Industries Limited munitions factory — which looms large in David Fennario’s Motherhouse — among the possessions of her late uncle.