Burning And Welding On Liberty Ships: The Story Of An American Rosie The Riveter

During World War II, over six million American women took paid employment in defense industries, while another estimated ten million women volunteered to support the war effort. They worked in factories, shipyards, munitions plans, mills, on farms, and on railroads. They were welders, cutters, riveters, laborers, secretaries, drivers, nurses, pilots, and plane spotters, as well as USO, Red Cross, and Canteen volunteers. Many women were working for the first time, often doing jobs that had been typically reserved for men. After the war, many returned home, unceremoniously released from their jobs, their contributions being forgotten for generations. Over time, however, their wartime service began to change perceptions of the type of work that women could do. They did their bit for their country and the war effort, and without them the Arsenal of Democracy would have suffered. Clarice Lafreniere was born in February 1922 in Leadville, Colorado, in a “gold mining area.” Her father worked for the railroad in a roundhouse repairing rail cars, and her mother raised the children. She had three siblings, an older brother who died at 14, a younger brother who died while in the service of pneumonia, and a sister who survived to 80. During her childhood, the family moved around a bit, surviving on government assistance during the depression. She enjoyed her high school experiences. In 1939, she married her husband. One thing that attracted her to him was that “he had work.” He worked in road construction and logging. She describes her experiences living in a tent during winter with a six-month-old baby boy, heating the tent and cooking on a small wood stove. When her son was one year old, they moved for work to Yamhill, Oregon, close to her aunt, before moving to Portland. She remembers listening to the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and went into labor with her daughter, who was born shortly after midnight on December 8, 1941. The hospital had already put up blackout curtains on the windows out of concern that the Japanese may attack the west coast. Her husband was working for Kaiser shipyards on Swan Island and had 5 or 6 women working for him. When her daughter was two and her son was three, Clarice took employment at the same shipyard, going to work with her husband and leaving her children with her mother and sister, who were, by then, living in the house adjacent to them. She was a burner and welder, making parts for Liberty ships after learning skills in cursory training. Burners cut pieces out of large sheets of metal and the welders put the pieces together. She worked the 10pm to 6am shift, with five women on her crew and one “lead man.” In the winter cold and summer heat, she worked in leather overalls, a jacket, long gloves, steel toed shoes, and a helmet with a safety glass visor. All of her clothing was leather to protect her from the heat and sparks. She felt that working conditions were generally good, she liked her boss, and the government appreciated her efforts. She describes wartime rationing, especially the lack of sugar, clothing, heat, gas, and shoe leather. As her children grew, she and her mother sewed clothes and frequently her parents and sister took meals with Clarice and her husband. In their free time, they held card parties and dinners for co-workers. When she was at home she focused on her children and spending time with her parents. There was no money to travel (or gas), but she had a lot of relatives in the area and her parents spoiled her children. Her brother and two brothers-in-law served, one dying in action and another committing suicide two years after the war ended. On V-J Day, she remembers that everyone was happy and there were parties in the street. After the war, her husband took a job with Carnation milk, and she stayed at home to raise the children. Later, she took a job at a department store, at Dunn and Bradstreet as a teletype operator, and eventually at the Department of Motor Vehicles, where women were continuing to break barriers, first being allowed to wear pants, then becoming driver examiners, and eventually Clarice was a manager of one of the DMV locations. Looking back on her wartime service, she is proud of what she did and remarks that women “came alive” after the war, branching out into other jobs. She describes when the Rosies were the Grand Marshalls of the Portland Rose Parade, and is grateful that she is part of the “American Rosie The Riveter Association.” We are grateful that Dr. Yvonne Fasold helped us connect with several “Rosies” in Oregon.