I have a similiar post iin the research area, but i am looking for help. I am researching for a book on what the women did for their countries during WW2. I am looking for personal strories of wives, moms or grandmas did. Being nurse, factory, or anything that helped the war effort. I thank you for any help or stories and look forward to reading them.- Branson
My grandmother worked as a secretary at Consolidated Aircraft Corporation assembly plant in Fort Worth Texas. They turned my great grandma down because she was 55 years old. So my great grandma went to the beauty shop and got her hair cut and dyed, went back and lied about her age and went work on the line making planes. They built the Consolidated B24J Liberator (I think J... not sure on that) Grandma and Great grandma were destitute. G Grandma had lost her husband and her store during the depression. She had to take grandma before a judge in '39 so she could go to work in the Poly Pop factory at age 14. FT
The Consolidated, Fort Worth plant built 295 B-24Ds, 144 B-24Es (all used in stateside training), 738 B-24Hs, 1558 B-24Js and 111 C-87s (transport version of B-24). H model deliveries ran into May of '44 although J's were being built at the same time beginning in October '43. A couple of Fort Worth built B-24s in the attached photo, the one on the right wing is a B-24H-20-CF and the trail a/c is a B-24J-15-CF. Perhaps your relatives worked on them. View attachment 14062
The publications back in the day carried all kinds of "inspirational" stories. Life magazine, the newspapers, Pathe, all tried to keep the homefront engaged by touting the service they were doing "for the boys on the front lines.". Check with your local libraries, especially the University libraries, for back issues. There are indices for the major publications that will help you find the stories you want. The folks at the reference desk are there to help you with this kind of thing.
If you want to diversify your work even more, check this out. Axis History Forum • View topic - WEDDINGS - Here come the BRIDES!
thank you for the story, what did she do at the factory. how long did she work there? what else do you know