They Also Serve

After three long years, WWII still raged on in Europe and in the Pacific while thousands of American women left their homes and kitchens to keep the Arsenal of Democracy humming along.

Working in the factories and offices, they transformed the role of women in America. The nineteenth amendment had given women the right to vote. WWII gave them society's acceptance of their right to work. America and its women would never be the same.

June Taylor and Betty Anderson are two of hundreds of women hired to replace men who answered the call to arms and left their jobs vacant on the packing line at Quaker Oats and in the ordnance factory in St. Joseph. The hardworking and feisty pair become roommates and soon secure promotions and boyfriends, who are enlisted in the Army Air Corps and Signal Corps. Betty's boyfriend, Don is a handsome, guitar-playing Lothario June fears may break Betty's heart. The war hangs like a dark cloud in the backdrop despite the dances, movies, and new freedoms for women. There are gasoline and food rations, the dreaded War Department telegrams about husbands or brothers killed in action, and the pressure of their new jobs to advance the American war effort.

There are battles to fight, even at home.