Making Rubber Airplane Gaskets As An After-School Job: 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. Dorothy Key was born in September 1926 and grew up in Canton, Texas, moving to Horatio, Arkansas, when she was nine years old. Recalling the dust storms of the Great Depression, she states it was “so dry, so hot,” the sand burned her bare feet, and her mom struggled to keep the house clean. Her family were farmers and the nine children helped pull their weight hoeing and chopping cotton. They also grew vegetables in a truck farm. She describes the “hard times,” where they never had enough food or clothes. In Arkansas, she found lots of kids to play with. Sometimes, she spent weekends at friends’ houses. On the evening of December 7, 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the family went to church. The man leading the prayers was crying; his son was at Pearl Harbor. The next day at school, the superintendent brought all the students into the gym to listen to Roosevelt declare war over the radio. After that, she describes participating in scrap metal drives. She took a bus to Los Angeles to live with her older sister and her husband. Even though she was about to start her junior year in high school, she wanted to begin working for the war effort right away. She attended school from 8 am to noon and then caught the streetcar to work as a machinist at Hydropac, making rubber gaskets for the hydraulics in airplane engines. She admits that her “school work suffered.” At school she was required to wear a dress, but at work she had to wear pants and keep her hair tied up. She was “the baby” at work, but eventually she helped train employees even younger than herself. One lady was in her 70s, but “she held her own.” Her job was not well-paying, but she made enough for her expenses. She describes wartime rationing, especially butter and sugar, but notes that her sister shopped carefully. Dorothy describes life on the home front as “exciting,” but she was very careful as she and her girlfriends explored Los Angeles. She recalls V-J Day clearly and after it was announced on the radio, everyone was “whooping and hollering.” When the service members began coming home, there was sadness mingled with the happiness because they saw the ones who were wounded. She remembers seeing one young man sitting alone on a bench who was obviously sick from the war, and now she regrets that she never went over to offer assistance. At the end of the war, she had to make rubber parts for prosthetic feet and that really bothered her. She kept working for Hydropac as the company transitioned into making children’s toys after the war. Back in Arkansas, she met her husband, who had served as a cavalryman in the Pacific. She raised seven children (five girls and two boys) and moved to Oregon. Reflecting on whether or not her wartime efforts were appreciated, she remarks, “My husband could not understand why I wanted to talk about my war work,” but now through the American Rosie the Riveter Association, she feels that “it is nice to be recognized.” Summarizing her service during the war, she states, “I love my country, I did my little bit,” and “I did exactly what I wanted to do.” At the end of the interview, she tells a story of trying to give blood and being turned away for being too young. She had to have her sister sign a permission slip (as her parent) to allow her to donate blood. We are grateful that Dr. Yvonne Fasold helped us connect with several “Rosies” in Oregon.