Rosie the Riveter Memorial

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Caption: Nearly 5 months before Pearl Harbor few women were employed in shipyards... By January 1944, as many as 10 percent of all production wage earners in the industry were women. On the west coast, 25 percent of all shipyard workers were women.

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Caption: They are in the shipyards, lumber mills, steel mills, foundries. They are electricians mechanics, and even boilermakers. They operate streetcars, buses, cranes and tractors. Women engineers are working in the drafting rooms and women physicists and chemists in the great industrial laboratories.

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Panel captions (right to left): I have not been on a ship since... No, definitely not. I will not ride one, I was fearful. When you were working, you would always think about how this ship was going to go out, and who was going to be on the ship when it came back -- the boys in the service. This is what you would fear. You would not want to make an awkward weld. You had to make it perfect -- there were lives involved. The ships had to come back. It wasn't the work that made me fearful. It was the fear of people not coming back. It was what the ship was going to do ... bring back boys and bodies -- that's what the memory goes through.; My mother's first shipyard job was in plate layout. Later she became the first female inspector. She tells a lot of stories, mostly about the guys who gave her a hard time for being a woman. She went on to work for unions. She fought for peace, civil rights, and a living wage. She often says, "Many remember those times with a rosy haze over their riveter eyes -- but we fought hard for social justice!'; It took many years for the small white scars to go away, from the hot rolling slag that fell as I welded overhead.; I weighed 110 lbs, so it was my job -- the flagpole and the double bottom. Yes, I went up to the flagpole, the very top of the ship to weld. Then I went all the way down to the bottom deck. You squeeze through a little hole that goes down; you drag you line, you tools, everything goes down with you, and it's dark... So this is how I worked, from the flagpole to the lowest deck.

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Panel Captions (left to right): Well all these ladies from Nebraska and Kansas, and you wonder how these ships came out? Well, I spent 9 years in the Merchant Marines. At first, we didn't want to go aboard. You see, the first ships were riveted and this was a new concept -- welding. Some of them cracked apart. But I did get on one that was built here. We went all over the place. Calcutta, Cuba, Melbourne, Ceylon, South Africa, Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad, New Orleans .. We got into some seas with 40-foot waves that cupped the deck like washboards and wiped away some of the lifeboats. Then we got into some uncharted waters and hit a reef -- it ripped out most of the whole double bottom. I don't know how many hours we were stuck on the reef. Then a huge wave knocked us off. We broke radio silence and they sent a tug and towed us 600 miles. If it hadn't been for that double bottom, I wouldn't be here today. So anyway, those ships were built okay ladies!; My doctor assured me that I didn't have the body structure -- ha! We tacked the beams to the bulkhead. I always liked outdoor work better than cooking and housework.; When they launched a ship it didn't have an engine. They would bring it over to the outfitting dock and fit it with everything human beings would need. People were like ants -- they were everywhere, and there were things all over the place that could burn or hurt you. You had to be very careful. Sometimes you would get there flash burns in you eyes, or sparks would fall into your collar or shoes. We wore goggles, but sometimes I wrapped extra scarves around my neck and wrists. I still have scars from those burns.; Dear Ms. Powers: Recently I read an article in our local newspaper regarding the ROSIE the Riveter Memorial. I was quite interested in the article as my mother worked as a welder in the shipyard in Richmond during World War II. I can remember her going to work and taking my brother and me to day care every day. She would be upset because she had to leaver us. My father worked in the same shipyards and they went together. I can remember her in her welding leathers and helmet. I have several newspapers from that time period that my mother saved. If at all possible, could you include my mother's name on the memorial? I think this is a wonderful thing you are doing. These ladies need recognition for what they did to support the war effort. Her name was: DEATA PRIDEMORE My mother passed away in 1979 at age 61. Thank you; Work Description: (Dates, Type of Work...) Draftsman - August 1943-August 1944 I was recruited in Aug. 1943 by Kaiser representatives of Yard 3, after completing a special "crash course" in Drafting at UC Berkeley. I worked on the Outfitting Dock. My initial job was to change blueprints to reflect revisions already made on the first ships that left the yard, and sometimes went with Maritime Inspectors aboard ship to check areas where improvements could be made. There were constant changes as more efficient methods of shipbuilding were found, and I changed the blueprints as they came. I worked one full year (Aug. 1943 - Aug. 1944) until impending Motherhood made that first BIG step up on the Key System impossible. I left the ranks of women shipyard workers and joined a more normal existence as wife of a Serviceman, Mother and homemaker. Back to Bobby sox and dresses!