Geraldine Zetler was ripe out of high school when she began
working at National Munitions Company in Eldred.

During the summer of 1943, and the next few summers, Zetler
stood all day for five days a week riveting tails on bombs to be
bundled together to make incendiary bombs. She worked on her
teaching degree the rest of the year at Mansfield University of
Pennsylvania.

She would carpool with a few other women, neighbors in her
hometown of Rixford, to the plant.

The work was routine, but the atmosphere was not typical of a
factory, Zetler said. Neighbors were all working together and the
plant was a great place to meet other women, she said.

“It was like a big family,” she said. “There was a very warm
feeling.”

Nearly 6 million women worked in shipyards and factories in the
U.S. during World War II. Thousands of local women found work at
the munitions plant as well as other factories like Dresser
Industries in Bradford and Sylvania in Emporium. The work they put
in to the war effort was important – and sometimes dangerous.

The munitions plant was nearly run by women during WWII, when it
produced millions of bombs, grenades, and other devices for
American troops, said Jay Tennies, director of the World War II
Museum in Eldred. More than 1,500 people were employed at the
factory from 1941 to 1945; about 95 percent of them were women, he
said. The young men became veterans of the war as the women at home
became veterans in the workplace.

“These were ladies that showed up for work and enjoyed working
together,” Tennies said.

Women came from Bradford to Coudersport to work at the plant,
some taking a bus or carpooling, others walking as far as 14 miles
to show up for work, Tennies said. Some women had to rely on
relatives for childcare, some had no choice but to keep the
children in the car while they worked, he said.

“Doing their part for the war effort really wasn’t easy,”
Tennies said.

The women often worked with dangerous chemicals including
tetryl, an explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive
booster charges. The chemical changed skin and hair color and led
to respiratory problems. Some women feared the plant could be
attacked because of the plant’s value and proximity to oil fields,
Tennies said. And their pay was significantly less than a man’s;
,.35 to ,.55 an hour for women compared to ,.70 an hour for
men.

But it was something that the women just did, said Zetler, who
had two brothers fighting in the war.

“Our boys were in a much more tough position,” Zetler said.

Dorothy Fish was just a few years out of high school when she
learned that Dresser Industries of Bradford was looking for women
for various manufacturing positions. Fish was the second woman
hired at the factory and welded bogie wheels and rolls for tanks,
among other tasks. Women didn’t mind going into work for men, she
said.

“I think we had a sense of pride,” Fish said. “We felt like we
were doing our part by keeping the tanks rolling.”

Some of the work was physically demanding, she said.

“It was hard,” Fish said. “You developed muscles you didn’t know
you had.”

Trying to find a seat on the bus on the way home wasn’t always
easy as dirty-faced working women with soot-covered overalls
weren’t looked highly upon, Fish said.

But the women deserve credit for helping to keep the factories
open and producing for the war effort, she said.

“We were quite a big part in winning the war,” Fish said, adding
that many women took jobs in plants nationwide producing anything
from airplanes to tanks.

Production was a major factor in the outcome of the war, a fact
that is often downplayed, Tennies said.

“Wherever there was production, women filled a significant
role,” he said. “The proof is in the results.”

Many women were discharged after the war ended and their jobs
were given to servicemen returning from the war. But other women,
like Fish stayed employed at their plants. Fish worked in Dresser’s
armour room until she retired in 1980.

“We had some good times and some bad times, but I think it was
worth it,” Fish said.

The WWII era was a unique time as the country banded together,
Zetler said.

“I have a lot of pride looking back on it,” she said.

Although many women are employed today, Zetler said the country
could ban together again today if it needed to.