Ike The Riveter: A WWII Story
Probably everyone in this country old enough to remember any snippet of the World Wars would agree, the period was frightening and confusing with constant fear for the lives of our military forces as well as concern for our homeland.
I can remember clearly when Pearl Harbor was attacked and will not forget the shock and uncertainty affecting my family and my community.
Even a little town like Dawson, certainly not a ground zero military target, was subject to air raid warnings and blackouts at night. Wardens walked the streets and cited anyone whose property was not dark.
A few days ago as I was going through some old family items, I came across a badly worn book of World War II food stamps, reminding me a little of my life between December 1941-1945 when my brothers returned home.
Our dinner table of eight was reduced by three, when Kenny and Lou joined the Army and Air Force respectively, and my oldest sister Ike (Irene) was asked to work in a steel mill near Beaver Falls.
The call to have women enter the male dominated steel industry was typical of the rushed decisions necessary in a country that was rapidly transitioning from a blossoming industrial age to rationing materials and universally producing weapons and war machines.
When military-aged men left for active duty, domestic production facilities needed workers to fill the void.
While for most of my life I was not aware of it, at least two of our little town’s finest, Betty Bauer Husband and Mary Lois McKnight, worked locally for the Ni-Co rubber product factory, which converted to military production.
Closer to home, Irene, who had graduated from high school, took a job making steel ingots in the mill.
While details of her assignment are fuzzy in my memory, I believe she was a guest at a volunteer host’s home for the duration of the war, another construct of the rush to sustain production while young men were being called into the military. More than 19 million women entered the steel, shipbuilding and aircraft industry during WWII.
In 1942, the song “Rosie the Riveter” became popular. It spurred a magazine cover by Norman Rockwell in 1943 of a young woman at work in a manufacturing plant in the war effort.
Rosie typified the commitment of America to be fully dedicated to victory in Europe. Every city, community and township was put on emergency status. Mills were staffed by whomever was available and competent.
Posters of Rosie flexing her muscles were circulated featuring encouraging slogans like “We’ll Get it Done”, and “We Can Do It.”
Near Flatwoods, Pa., Lydi Stewart walked half of a mile every day, catching the bus to work in the steel mills near Pittsburgh. Of Lydi’s 11 children, all 10 boys entered some branch of the service.
Years later, we still salute these courageous women, innovators and facilitators of womens’ abilities and rights.
And while she did not pursue a career in the steel industry, when our own “Rosie,” Irene Ellen (Ike) Hess completed her “tour of duty” she returned home to her loving family.
Author’s note: The government issued food stamp books to every citizen, even babies, during WWII. The stamps were used when purchasing any food product that was rationed to prevent hoarding. Many of the old books still exist and can be viewed or bought online.
Roy Hess Sr. is a retired teacher and businessman from Dawson.