Deaths: Ruth Duccin-- Last Female Munchkin and "Rosie the Riveter"

RUTH DUCCIN, 95 (1918-JAN. 16, 2014) //// Oldest of the surviving Munchkins from the famous movie "Wizard of Oz." Had gathered with the surviving Munchkins for their induction on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 and attendedof the film's 75th anniversary at Grauman's Chinese Theater. //// She was one of the villagers and said she was paid $125 a week for her work on the movie. Called the Penultimate Surviving Munchkin (although I was unable to find out exactly what that means). She was the last-known surviving female Munchkin. //// However, she said she was even more proud of the role she played in World War II when she was a real "Rosie the Riveter working at Douglas Aircraft as a riveter where her small size was put to good use squeezing into small spaces where a full-sized woman couldn't. ////

War Production on the Home Front-- Part 4

From an excellent series of photos on Shorpy, this one titled "A Woman's Work: 1942 from September 6, 2010. These pictures gave a good idea of World War II on the home front.

Taken October 2010. "Women become skilled shop technicians after careful training in the school at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach, California.

Planes made here include the B-17F Flying Fortress heavy bomber, A-20 assault bomber and C-47 transport."

Photo taken by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. One person commented that Mr. Palmer took hundreds of photos most in black and white and supploed 95 more.

When you view the photos, which you can find at Shorpy.com or just search the title, be sure to read the comments.

All for One, One for All. --Cooter

Follow Up on Dorothy and Sylvia

From the previous entry.

The Buick plant in Melrose Park was constructed in 1941 as America geared up for war. Air-cooled engines, under the license of Pratt and Whitney used in B-24 Liberator Bombers were built there.

In 1946, the plant was purchased by International Harvester.

The plant still exists and is a Navistar factory now.

I came across a "Keep 'Em Flying Buick" embroidered patch from World War II that sold on e-Bay on the WorthPoint.com site. It is called "Vintage WWII Aviation Patch Keep 'Em Flying.

It has the words "Keep 'Em Flying" across the top.

In the middle are two wings on either side of the front view of an engine with propeller.

At the bottom it reads "Buick."

The patch is 4 inches across by two inches high. I went back and looked at the Shorpy photo of Sylvia and it doesn't appear to be this patch she is wearing.

The Deeper I Go. --Cooter

America's War Homefront

Checking on that great Shorpy.com site for all those great photos, I saw one on big interest to me from the Feb. 8, 2011 picture titles "Dot and Syl: 1942.

This is a great shot of two Rosie the Riveters making the weapons needed to win World War II. The picture was taken in July 1942 and the caption reads: "Production of aircraft engines at Melrose Park Buick plant near Chicago. Hundreds of gears pass through the expert hands of Dorothy Miller and Sylvia Dreiser during their eight-hour working day in a large Midwest aircraft plant. Inspection of these vital cogs in America's war machine is a delicate task and one which requires infinite patience and precision."

The photo was by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information.

Sylvia Dreiser was wearing a small "V" pin on one side of her war clothes. The other had pins showing crossed swords and one that appears to be for the Army Air Corps. There was also a button, but I couldn't see what it said.

This Is 100% War Effort on the Home Front. --Cooter

Rosie the Riveter

From the Canton Review.

A song was written about her called "Rosie the Riveter." Part of it went:

All the day long,
Whether rain or shine
She's part of the assembly line.
She's making history,
Working for victory
Rosie the Riveter.

According to the National Park Service, the Rosie the Riveter propaganda focused on several themes to get them to work:

** Patriotic Duty
** High Earnings
** Glamour of the Work
** Similar to Housework
** Spousal Pride

The Greatest Generation. --Cooter

A Real "Rosie the Riveter"

This is a story about a woman named Rosie Schramski, 85, of Suttons Bay, who, during World War II actually worked in a factory making bombers and whose job was riveting.

This was in the April 21st Traverse City (Mi) Record Eagle "'Rosie the Riveter' alive and well" by Carol Smith.

In 1944, she spent six months at the Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, as a riveter. She worked nine hours a day constructing the center wings on B-24 bombers on a mile-long assembly line.

With all the men going off to fight the war, thousands of women entered the work force to make the instruments of war they needed. Her daughters interviewed her and sent the story to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Park in Richmond, California.


THE WAR YEARS

She had met her future husband Frank Schramski before the war. He enlisted in the Navy ten days after his high school graduation in 1943 and served on the destroyer USS Benham.

Rosie graduated at the same time and moved to Ypsilanti to help her sister and brother-in-law by babysitting while they worked at Willow Run. She came home for Christmas where she and her girlfriend Gladys decided to get a lucrative job at the plant themselves.

They went back to Ypsilanti, got jobs, and lived in dormitories set up for the workers. They attended the Ford Airplane School and studied from "A Manual of Elementary Rivet Theory."

They were assigned to what was considered to be the noisiest assembly line where the pieces were put together. Rosie was a riveter and Gladys the bucker. They worked hard and carefully, knowing the lives of the crews depended on their effort.

They often volunteered for the night shift where they made more money.

www.rosietheriveter.com

Part of the Interesting Story of the US Homefront During the War. --Cooter

An Overlooked Part of World War II: Rosie the Riveter

Most people know about the battles and leaders of World War II as well as the soldiers who fought it. But what about the people whose efforts enabled the soldiers to fight? What about the ones who remained at home?

The home front is overlooked by many, and people not alive during the war realized what was going on here in the United States. Major effort was being made and a cultural revolution was made necessary as women left the home by the millions to take their husbands' and boyfriends' places on the assembly lines and in the farm fields.

This week's American Profile Magazine insert in the local paper, had a good article on Fran Carter who heads up the American Rosie the Riveter Association and several times each month visits school, churches, and other organizations to bring "Rosie" to those who don't know.

I will be spotlighting this article "Being Rosie the Riveter" by Elaine Miller, in the next several days.

Another overlooked group is the Merchant Marine, whose efforts transported the soldiers and equipment and supplies they needed to fight the war.

Overlooked, But Not Forgotten. --Cooter

World War II Sites in the US

In the earlier posting, I wrote about the crew members of the US ship who died in Southport, NC. In the article I got from the HMdb (Historical Marker database), they wrote that there weren't a lot of WW II markers in the US since essentially no fighting took place here.

True, but even so, there was plenty of war effort going on here, along with the battles with U-Boats in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Shipyards sprang up all along the coasts. Two ships on the Great Lakes were converted into aircraft carriers for Naval aviators to practice landings and takeoffs.

German and Italian prisoners were held in various towns, training camps sprang up all over as well. Our coasts also had fortifications. Then, there were the Rosie the Riveters and children participating in war drives.

I've also come across an article about a woman who recently donated the bottle with which she christened the Liberty Ship SS Calvin Coolidge to a museum in Vermont.

One thing I have definitely come across in this blog, is that there is the need for lots of markers that to be erected in this country.

Here's Hoping. --Cooter

Wartime Rosies-- Part 2

Continuing with yesterday's story.

The Richmond, California shipyards built 747 ships during the war using round-the-clock shifts.

The Rosie the Riveter Park is a work in progress. There is a memorial walkway flanked by metal structures to evoke the hull of a ship. It was dedicated in 2000. There is also space in a refurbished Ford assembly plant which they hope to turn into an exhibit.

You can get a map and directions to the park's landmarks such as a housing development for workers. Shipyard No. 3, where the USS Red Oak Victory, an ammunition ship, and others were built is being restored to its WW II appearance.

-FORMER ROSIE VISITS

Kate Grant, a former Rosie, visited from Moore, Oklahoma. She said she "was a tack welder and used to go 40 feet down to the bottom of the ship to lay beads of hot lead on seams. I worked the graveyard shift from 12 am to 8 am, getting home in time to take care of my baby, who was watched at night by my younger sister."

She had two weeks of training and wore a hood, goggles, and leather pants and gloves. Her husband Melvin was a Marine and shipped overseas. She remembers writing him a letter to him saying, "Honey, I feel like I'm building a ship for you to come home in."

Glad to See Another Aspect of that Unbelievable War Effort Being Remembered. --Old Coot

Wartime Rosies

The Jan. 2, 2008, World, serving the south coast of Oregon. "Wartime Rosies are still riveting" by Michelle Locke, AP.

There are many abandoned factories where thousands once built ships around Richmond, California. To mark the efforts of these ladies, there is now the Rosie the Riveter WW II Home Front National Historic Park located in the former shipbuilding area.

Mary Head, a former Rosie is in her mid-80s as are most of her fellow workers and believes they almost waited too late to honor their efforts.


NOT ALL WHITE

Most Rosies were shown as white women, but not all of them were. Betty Reid Soskin was a black woman living in the San Francisco Bay area when war broke out. People from all over the country were recruited to work in the shipyards. She kept records for the segregated union set up for black shipyard workers. Since she didn't really work on the ships, she doesn't refer to herself as a Rosie.


More to Come. --Old Coot