Thread:SueGee/@comment-26544836-20160731083022/@comment-32738051-20160731154007

Me too, Sue! So cool!

My maternal grandmother was a Rosie the Riveter during World War II. I believe she worked both in Maine at Loring Air Force Base and in Connecticut where she met my grandfather (they married in Massachusetts). She may also have been a WAC, as I have pictures of her in uniform, though I haven't found any military records of it yet. My mother was a war baby born Nov '43 - my grandparents married Aug '43 after she got pregnant and before he got shipped overseas. When he got back, they divorced Feb '48. Though the baby boom is quoted as starting after the war, World War II was probably the single greatest cause of spikes in marriage (before shipment overseas), births (during the war) and divorce (after the war) statistics a least in the States. So many young couples parted ways full of uncertainty they would ever see each other again that they rushed into things only to find, for those soldiers who survived and returned, they really weren't compatible after all. My grandparents included.

History and genealogy are so cool...I remember my grandmother - I think it was - telling me briefly about her factory work during the war but most of what I know comes from historical records, family papers and photos. But I could tell - at least in hindsight - how the experience shaped her life, making her more independent and self-sufficient. Women really started coming into their during the war.