Mrs. Virginia Young (right), whose husband had been killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor just nine months before, as a supervisor at the Naval Air Base in Corpus Christi Texas in August 1942. Her job was to find comfortable living quarters for women workers from out of the state, like Ethel Mann, the operator of a pneumatic drill. It sounds like Virginia Young had some extra incentive to do a great job, which I'm sure she did. Photo by Howard Hollem.
This 1942 photograph by Howard Hollem captures Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, where she served as senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department. Appointed by the civil service while her husband was away fighting in World War II, Mrs. Ellis played a key role in supporting the women under her supervision—boosting morale by helping them secure suitable housing and offering guidance with personal challenges.
The patriotic American women were a big reason we won WWII with over 6 million women working in manufacturing jobs. That was 37% of the workforce. A lathe operator machines parts for transport planes at the Consolidated Aircraft plant in Fort Worth, October 1942. Phenomenal lighting and composition. Dirty shirt, dirty arms, dirty apron, a skinned knuckle ----- and fingernail polish.
