World War II Rosies and their families attend a bell ringing ceremony held Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, at the Cabell County Public Library in Huntington. The ceremony was held to hear the stories of Rosie the Riveter and how they contributed to winning World War II.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — When World War II started, Dolores Ward was a sophomore in high school.
“I was your typical teenager, going to school, studying, dating and going to parties, but by the time I graduated in 1944 all of that changed,” Ward said.
Ward, of Huntington, said her high school sweetheart went off to war and she started looking for a job.
“The Sylvania Electric opened a new plant here, doing defense work and making parts of bombs,” she recalled. “Several friends and I applied and they put us to work, so on June 6, 1944 – D-Day – I was on my way to my first day of work.”
Ward worked in the grid department and filled a job that was needed since many men went off to fight in World War II. Ward, and many other women like her, later became known as a “Rosie…