The Assembly Minority Conference hosted a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ event today to honor women from across Long Island who, during World War II, supported the war effort by joining the American workforce in manufacturing plants that produced munitions, tanks, planes, ships and materials needed to support our troops serving overseas.

“Without their sacrifice and efforts on the home front our troops serving in the Pacific and Europe would not have been adequately supplied. Having served in the military, I know the effort needed to sustain our military, and all the Rosies stepped up when the country needed them the most,” said Assemblyman David G. McDonough (R,C,I-Merrick). “It is a great pleasure to recognize all the women who did their part during the war.”

When American men began enlisting for military service shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 a shortage in the workforce was created at many factories across the country including Grumman Aircraft and Republic Aviation on Long Island.

Rosie the Riveter, a fictional character immortalized by posters supporting the war effort and a song of the same name, helped to recruit more than six million women to join the American war effort on the home front between December 1941 and early 1944. Rosie became a cultural and feminist icon and was the result of the most successful advertising recruitment in American history.

The fictional Rosie was inspired by a real life Rosie, whose name was Ms. Rose Will Monroe, born in Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1922. During the war, Rose moved to Michigan where she worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory building B-29 and B-24 bombers. She was eventually asked to star in a promotional film and was featured in a poster campaign about the war effort at home.