Read the script:
DURING WORLD WAR II THE US FACED A UNIQUE PROBLEM KEEPING THE ECONOMY GOING. SO MANY MEN WERE FIGHTING IN THE ARMED FORCES, THERE WERE NOT ENOUGH LABORERS TO BUILD WAR SUPPLIES.
THAT’S WHERE THE WOMEN OF OUR NATION STEPPED UP. THEY TOOK TO UNTRADITIONAL JOBS IN FACTORIES. AS A SYMBOL, ‘ROSIE THE RIVETER’ BECAME THE FACE OF THE WOMEN’S ECONOMIC POWER AND FEMINISM. THIS POSTER BY J. HOWARD MILLER BECAME THE ICONIC IMAGE, BUT THE STORY OF THE WOMAN BEHIND IT IS JUST AS POWERFUL.
REPORTER CATHERINE VAN HAS THE STORY OF NAOMI PARKER FRALEY… WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY.
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "WHEN ALL THIS WENT DOWN, MY MOM HAPPENS TO BE ROSIE THE RIVETER...THEY GO WHAT?"
MARNIE BLANKENSHIP: "YEAH, NO NOT REALLY. YEAH, REALLY."
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "THAT'S MY MOM."
CATHERINE: THE WORLD MAY KNOW HER AS THIS... BUT JOE BLANKENSHIP THINKS OF HER A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY.
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "IT'S MY MOM, I'M PROUD ANYWAY. THE THING IS, I GREW UP WITH THIS WOMEN, SO SHE WAS SPECIAL TO ME BECAUSE OF WHO SHE WAS."
BEFORE SHE WAS MOM... NAOMI PARKER FRALEY WORKED AT ALAMEDA NAVAL AIR STATION DURING WORLD WAR TWO.
MARNIE BLANKENSHIP: "A PHOTOGRAPHER HAPPENED TO BE GOING THROUGH AND TAKING PICTURES AND HE GLOMMED ON TO HER."
AND HE TOOK THIS PICTURE...
IT WASN'T UNTIL 2009 WHEN SHE SAW IT PUBLICIZED AT A CONVENTION THAT SHE REALIZED, SHE WAS ROSIE THE RIVETER.
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "I'M THANKFUL THAT SHE GOT THE NOTORIETY THAT SHE DESERVES. THE FUNNY THING IS SHE WAS A HUMBLE PERSON AND SHE DIDN'T CARE."
TO HER... THERE WERE MANY ROSIES... ALL CHIPPING IN TO THE WAR EFFORT.
AND FOR HER FAMILY... SHE WASN'T JUST AN ICON... SHE EMBODIED ONE.
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "WHATEVER THE WORLD THREW AT HER, SHE'D JUST BOUNCED BACK."
A SINGLE MOTHER... AND SOLE BREADWINNER FOR HER FAMILY IN THE 1950S... SHE FOUGHT FOR EVERYTHING SHE HAD... TO THE END.
JOE BLANKENSHIP: "SHE DID IT AND SHE ALWAYS DID IT ON HER OWN. SHE WAS AN AMAZING PERSON."