By the numbers: Women during World War II
In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, young men lined up to enlist. But an estimated 350,000 women also volunteered for military service during the war, according to the National World War II Museum. Many were in the line of fire:
- Direct enemy fire resulted in the deaths of 16 nurses.
- More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service. Nurses were at the invasion of Normandy on D-plus-four.
- Others -- 68 American service women -- were captured and held as POWs in the Philippines.
- Among the Women’s Army Corps, 565 in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations.
But while women proved themselves under fire, they were even more involved on the homefront. Rosie the Riveter posters recruited women to help in defense manufacturing. Approximately 7 million took civilian jobs, according to the Oxford Research Encyclopedias website, taking the number of women in the workforce from 11 million to 18 million. After the war, many wanted to keep their jobs but were forced out.
One of the former plants in Richmond, California, is now the Rosie the Riveter WW2 Home Front National Historic Park. The photos below, made available through the Library of Congress, were taken in 1942-43 by the Farm Security Administration's Office of War Information photographers.
Phyllis Ann Marxson Clark, 18, works on the nose section of a B-17F bomber in Long Beach, California. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer, via the Library of Congress.
An unidentified worker operates a hand drill on a "Vengeance" dive bomber at a Nashville, Tennessee, plant. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer, via the Library of Congress.
A woman works on an airplane motor at a plant in Inglewood, California. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer.
Grace Weaver, a school teacher before the war, put fine touches on a Navy plane at a plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo: Howard R. Hollem, via the Library of Congress.
A worker assembles the cowling of a B-25 bomber motor in Inglewood, California. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer.
Workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17 bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Co. plant, Long Beach, California. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer.
An assembly worker at the Long Beach, California, plant takes a rest. Photo: Alfred T. Palmer
