Guards stand at the gate to the Springfield Armory’s administration building.
The “Arsenal at Springfield” was established on a site chosen by General George Washington in 1777. It produced cartridges and gun carriages and stored weaponry during the American Revolution. Following the war it was the scene of violence during Shays’ Rebellion, when Massachusetts militia men fired upon anti-government Regulators attempting to commandeer the Arsenal building and its stores. The armory began making weapons in 1794. It continued to manufacture small firearms through the Civil War, including the famous Springfield Rifle. By World War II the Springfield Armory was the sole manufacturer of the semi-automatic M1 or “Garand Rifle” invented at the Armory by John Garand in 1934. The Defense Department closed the Springfield Armory in 1968. It is now a national historic site administered by the National Park Service. Prior to its closing, the Springfield Armory played a central role in the economic prosperity of its city, which since the late nineteenth century had been known as the “City of Homes.”
The Springfield Armory has remained a constant in Dorothy Pryor’s life. She grew up two blocks from the Armory, and remembers roller skating near it, and attending gym class on its parade grounds. During World War II, she was employed by the Springfield Armory as a shop checker, or parts inspector. She considers herself to be “a different product of the Armory.”
Hercules, Inc. which produced naval stores and explosives during the war, advertised for women workers “to help American men win this war.”
One of the ways in which American women supported the war effort was by entering the workforce. As able American men went to war, women were asked to step in to fill the gap, and to take on either war factory work, or other jobs necessary to maintaining the home front. Many of the women who did war factory work were, like Dorothy, young and unmarried. But as the war progressed, mothers of even very young children were asked to take on jobs outside of the home. The number of women added to the workforce was significant. Prior to the war there had been 12 million women in the American workforce. That number increased to 18 million by the end of World War II.
It is hard to imagine the many ways in which the lives of these women were changed by their wartime experiences. Frieda Lorretta Calvano, who worked in production for Dupont in New Jersey and as a draftsman for Sperry Gyroscope in Brooklyn, New York, believed that
In spite of our nation’s circumstances, it was one of the most interesting parts of my life, showing me things I never knew existed. It taught me that if there’s something you think you should do, then do it. How did the war change my life? You couldn’t even go into it, but it did give me a better value of life. When victory was won we went crazy; the joy was crazy, and crying…1
Oh, and my brother and boyfriend overseas? They both made it back safely. I married my boyfriend soon thereafter and started a family.
Heleyn A. Potter, who a welder and riveter at the Curtis Wright Aircraft Company in Saint Louis, Missouri, during the war described those experiences this way: “War changes everything. I was a welder and now a riveter in an all-woman work force. Five years earlier, I was studying ballet, planning to become a ballerina. As we supported the War Effort, the collective soul of women changed.”2
1Memoir of Frieda Loretta Calvano http://www.nps.gov/pwro/collection/website/frieda.htm Retrieved March 26, 2010.
2Memoir of Heleyn A. Potter, http://www.nps.gov/pwro/collection/website/helyn.htm Retrieved March 26, 2010.
Bertha Stallworth, age 21, shown inspecting end of 40mm artillery cartridge case at Frankford Arsenal.
Dorothy was a college student attending Fisk University during the war. On school breaks she supported the war effort by working at the Springfield Armory. Like Bertha Stallworth (above), Dorothy was a “shop checker,” inspecting finished work. She remembers
And one of the loveliest experiences with…came …the summer of forty…four, I guess, yeah, the summer, the summer when I was going back for my senior year. This Armenian lady, Ida Garib, I…I still remember her name, who was a fantastic worker – I mean …she could put out gun parts – I’ve forgotten what…what the little part was she was making – but she…she set the standard for everybody else in the foundry. She could really go great guns, sitting at that, you know…and I was accurate and…She had been watching me and whatnot, and when I got ready to go to school, she had taken up quiet…unbeknownst to me, a collection – and was…I remember it was 67 dollars, but in 1944, 67 dollars was like 670, you know, or more – to help with my books. And I’ll never forget it. She just…she wished me well, and got that for me. I…I think I’d…might of…I think she let go of the machine long enough to hug me. And I never forg…I never forgot that. She was so concerned, so impressed with my energy and my efficiency, and my concentration on the work. But, you know, most of the people were…were… women. There were a few …fellows working there, but …they were…they were there because they…their physical disabilities kept them out of the service. So, it was…it was great. It was a lovely experience.