Remembering Pearl Harbor and the women who won the war.

 

Seventy-nine years ago, the US was thrown into the conflict, World War Two. If it weren't for women taking off their aprons, donning coveralls and filling the factory floors, it is difficult to imagine how much longer the war would have lasted. This is my tribute.

We Served

Under its breath,

Our country called.

We asked not what the job

at hand would be,

Only that our help

was required.

We filled shops, factories and

The military.

Never questioned our ability, desire,

Patriotism or mission.

Filled with excitement and anxiety,

But never worried about performing.

It was our time to shine.

To show the dominant species

We were more than mothers or housewives.

More than trophies to be dressed and taken to parties.

We were a force to be reckoned with.

Those of us who joined the WAC’s were the cream of the crop.

Our love for flying left them no abandon.

Sneered and jeered by their male peers,

We never lost faith.

Knowing we were equal to men

In the air kept our spirits high.

No, we weren’t allowed to fly over the battlefields

Of Europe and the Pacific, but we cheered our comrades

In arms in Russia. They were proving their worth

Against the Nazi aggressors.

Many paid the ultimate price

pulling air targets or ferrying planes across the US,

to Britain and islands in the Pacific.

How did our country honor our dead? By having us gather the

Funds to help the families pay for the burials.

We had no benefits. Our pay was half of the mens.

Did it infuriate us? Did it leave us despondent and bitter?

At times.

But knowing we were on the frontlines of the warzones homeland

Filling the roles men couldn’t or wouldn’t, was our reward.

We were the backbone

of the revitalization of the American military.

We were the ones

who did the heavy lifting and riveting

We were the ones

suffering in the factories and mills,

Churning out the implements and tools of war.

We were cutting, forging, casting,

the components of:

ships tanks, jeeps, planes and submarines.

WE WERE THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE!

On VE and VJ day, men and women cheered and hollered.

The papers lauded our great accomplishments in the titanic struggles

Against dictatorships and imperialism.

They proudly claimed how “Our Boys are Coming Home!”

We cheered with them,

but we knew one thing,

Our country would take decades to recognize.

Without us, OUR country could not have won the war.

Copywright@2108

LDDJ Enterprises Publishing

From the book, "Women of War."

Click on the link to pick up a copy today! Women of War