Editor’s note: Brendan Reilly’s “Solano Chronicle” column appears every other Sunday in the Times-Herald.
During World War II, thousands of women worked in grueling shipbuilding jobs on Mare Island. Vallejo sculptor Giancherry is determined to ensure their memory lives on with a 10-foot-tall bronze statue on the island, which was once a naval shipyard.
Mare Island played an important role during the war, building and repairing more than 1,600 ships. Giancherry said her proposed “Wendy the Welder” statue would preserve the legacy of women, who made up 20 percent of the approximately 44,000 shipyard workers during the war.
A small model of the statue, along with photographs, paintings, stories of former shipyard workers, and other materials, will be on display at the Mare Island Art Studio exhibition, which opens on Sunday, June 7, and runs until June 29. More information can be found in the link at the end of this column.
“So many people don’t know about their history,” Giancherry says. “This show is a step towards more aggressive promotion to honor their impact during the war and gain support for a monument they deserve.” Given the statue’s estimated six-figure construction cost, broad support is essential, she added.
Production on Mare Island during the war was enormous. Workers built 386 ships, including 4 submarine tenders, 17 submarines, 31 destroyer escorts, 33 small ships of various types, and 301 landing craft. Between 1940 and 1945, the shipyard also repaired a total of 1,227 ships.
Among the accomplishments of the approximately 9,000 women who were paid about one-third less than men in the shipyards was work on the USS Nereus, which was launched in early 1945. Navy officials said the 529-foot submarine tender was tampered with by “a small number of male hands” during construction, according to the shipyard’s Grapevine newspaper.
When the destroyer escort’s keel was installed in 1943, USS Crowley, Alice Sawyer, and Juanita Daybolt made the first welds on the ship. This was an honor never before bestowed on a woman working at Mare Island. The Grapevine announces that “another male citadel” has fallen in the shipyard.
By mid-1946, the shipyard’s World War II workforce had dwindled to about 12,000 employees in 1940. As men who left Mare Island for military service returned to shipyard work, the proportion of female employees declined sharply.
Employment at the shipyard never again approached World War II levels, but Mare Island remained active until it was decommissioned on April Fool’s Day in 1996.
During the war, Wendy the Welder, Susie the Steelworker, Elsie the Electrician, and most famously, Rosie the Riveter, were popular labels that helped mobilize millions of American women to replace the men who left for war. This nickname represented women who worked on the front lines of the home as riveters, welders, machinists, pipefitters, electricians, boilermakers, and many other industry-related jobs.
Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller created the “We Can Do It” image of a woman flexing her biceps in a red and white polka dot bandana and blue shirt for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in 1943. It was an unassuming labor promotion poster that was on display for just two weeks at a Westinghouse factory in the Midwest.
The most popular image during the war was a painting by artist Norman Rockwell that appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. The painting depicts a woman in a blue work jumpsuit with a rivet gun in her lap, a sandwich in her hand, and a copy of Mein Kampf under her feet.
The woman’s lunchbox has the word “Rosie” written on it, linking her to the popular song “Rosie the Riveter” released the same year. A year later, Republic Pictures released the musical film Rosie the Riveter.
But in the 1980s, Miller’s “We Can Do It” image was featured in a National Archives article about posters and widely reprinted on products such as T-shirts, mugs and pins.
James J. Kimble, a communications professor at Seton Hall University who studies various aspects of World War II home-front propaganda, says the increased exposure made Miller’s image the most recognizable “Rosie.” Kimble added that the image was not only a symbol of America’s resilience during the war, but was also adopted as a symbol of feminist strength.
Brad Bunin, a ranger at Rosie the Riveter Park in Richmond, said in a 2015 San Francisco Chronicle article, “This is just the epitome of a strong, independent, capable woman.” “Simple and colorful. You won’t be misunderstood.”
Richmond Park was established in 2000. Other monuments, parks, memorial gardens, and statues honoring women who worked in the defense industry during World War II can be found in many locations across the country. These include Rosie statues in Michigan, Texas, Maryland, Oklahoma and New Jersey, as well as the Wendy Rose statue in Vancouver, Washington, where thousands of women worked at Kaiser Shipyards.
- Link to the June 7th MI Art Studio event: mareislandartstudios.com/events/wendy-the-welder-the-mare-island-shipyard-workers-jeancherie/
— Vallejo and other Solano County communities are a treasure trove of early California history. My “Solano Chronicles” column focuses on various aspects of its history. If you have a local story or photo you’d like to share, please contact me on Facebook.
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