Category Archives: reviews

Redux: Rosie The Riveter

April 23, 2024informational, personal, presentation, reviewsCongressional Gold Metal, Eastern Aircraft, General Motors, military, Rosie the Riveter, Tarrytown, US Mint, World War II, WW IIArnie

<br /> Our Family’s Rosies<br />

Our Three Rosies

During World War II millions of men volunteered or were conscripted to serve in the military. As the men left the workforce, the country’s factories were desperately short of employees – especially the factories that directly supported the war effort.

Our government immediately started a national recruitment effort asking women to join the depleted workforce. Using the well known Rosie the Riveter posters, they called on women to show their patriotism with their labor. In all, some 6 million women were employed by these war time factories.

Earlier this month this article caught my attention.

Some 80 years after WWII some of these women were awared the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.

These ladies are my mother and three of her sisters.

In the early 1940s, Mom and two of these sisters volunteered to work building aircraft to support the war effort.

Over the years, Mom related bits and pieces about their early years working for the war effort. Each day the three traveled from their home in New Rochelle, NY to the General Motors assembly plant had been converted to build wings for the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber. Without a car, they were given a ride with a neighbor who also worked at the plant in Tarrytown, NY about twenty-five miles away.

This is a photograph of my Aunt Millie working on one of the assembly lines. I think she qualifies as a Rosie.

In 2012 I visited Tarrytown and snapped this photo.

This is the ground on which the General Motors assembly plant stood. You can see some of the rusted steel beams.

By this time, the plant had been demolished to make way for new condos which were going to be built on this site.

While neither Mom nor her sisters received Congressional Gold Metals, I ordered three of these commemorative metals for the families of Mom and two her sisters.

Here’s one of the metals that I purchased for Mom and her sisters.

Flip the coin over and you can see another image of the symbolic Rosie.

Aunt Jeanne’s Layoff Notice

For four years these hard working women had served the country making critical equipment and supplies.

Shortly after the war ended the factories were no longer producing military supplies. As a result most of the women were dismissed. Here is a layoff notification that my aunt received at the conclusion of one of her shifts.

We should thank all of these women for their dedication and patriotism. You can read a portion of the General Motors operation in Tarrytown during the war years by clicking here.

If you know someone who fits the Rosie the Riveter moniker you can order one of the commemorative metals from the United States Mint as a way to thank them.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Red Star Line Museum

July 1, 2023informational, personal, photograph, reviews, travelAntwerp, Belgium, Boston, emigration, Europe, museum, New York, Philadelphia, Red Star Line, SheldtArnie

Emigration to America

A couple of years ago while visiting friends in Belgium we drove a short distance from Brussels to the nearby port city of Antwerp.


Antwerp is Belgium’s second largest city. It’s situated along the Schedt River which empties into the North Sea which is turn connects to the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the world’s biggest ports, Antwerp handles more cargo than any other port in Europe except nearby Rotterdam. Seeing the inviting waterfront surrounding us, we took a very pleasant sightseeing boat ride on the Sheldt.

After our sightseeing excursion, we explored the streets of Antwerp and stumbled upon the Red Star Line Museum. The Red Star Line was a shipping company that operated between Antwerp and the eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada. Throughout Europe they advertised their routes and from 1873 to 1934 – sixty years – Antwerp was a center for emigration from the continent. Emigrants from Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, France, Italy and other countries traveled to Antwerp to board the ships bound for North America.

More than two million Europeans were passengers on the Red Star Line steamships from Antwerp to America’s large metropolitan centers – New York, Philadelphia, Boston. Paintings and displays in the museum depict the many travelers in Antwerp’s streets preparing for the long and challenging journey across the ocean to a destination that promised them a new, brighter future.

On display are curated personal belongings – clothing, suitcases, diaries, photographs, jewelry, toys – that punctuate the stories of individuals and families who decided to leave their homeland hoping for a better life. For me, the Red Star Line Museum highlighted the overwhelming struggle that millions of individuals experienced reaching for a better future by having to brave the unknowns of emigrating to America.

If you’re interested in learning more, here’s the link to the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp.

Code Talkers Museum

August 13, 2022informational, photograph, presentation, reviews, travelBurger King, Code Talkers, Kayenta, Monument Valley, museum, Native Americans, Navajo, restaurant, WWIIArnie

A Restaurant is Also A Memorial

Northern Arizona is part of the Navajo Nation.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit and photograph the immensely scenic Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. This iconic area is located on the Arizona-Utah so we stay overnight in the nearby town of Kayenta. Next door to the hotel is a Burger King restaurant where we can catch breakfast before going to the park.

But this Burger King is unlike any other that we’ve been to. Inside is an extensive display – a mini-museum if you will – of the Code Talkers. The Code Talkers were U.S. servicemen recruited from among the Native Americans (mostly Navajo) during World War II. Some 500 of these Navajo speakers used their language skills to code and transmit secret messages among the various military units. Dozens of volunteers were from the Kayenta area.

I’ve visited this Burger King multiple times over the years and each time the display has been enlarged and enhanced.