‘Rosie the Riveter’ group to be honored at Grand Floral Parade

By Adrian Thomas

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — This year’s Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade coincides with a national gathering happening in Portland to celebrate the hardworking women who stepped up during World War II.

When the United States entered WWII after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, many young and healthy men were sent abroad to fight. As the U.S. raced to build ships and place for the war, women, like 101-year-old Clarice Lafreniere, were inspired by “Rosie the Riveter” signs around the country, calling for women to contribute to the war effort.

“All the signs pointed, ‘We need you, we need you.’ And we knew we were needed, every lady was conscious of what was going on,” said Lafreniere.

Lafreniere worked as a welder in the Kaiser Shipyard in Portland at Swan Island and is now part of the local Rosie the Riveter legacy.

Dolly Marshall, of Springfield, says she was recruited by the Army while still in high school to monitor the sky over her New Jersey town for enemy aircraft.

“We would go up to the press box at the football stadium which was the highest place. We studied for several weeks, silhouettes of both domestic and foreign planes,” Marshall said.

It’s a role Marshall says inspired her to pursue public service, holding jobs in the Peace Corps and National Park Service in her adult years.

With Marshall is fellow “Rosie” Florence Rexroad. During the war, she worked at Boeing in Seattle, helping build hundreds of aircraft that would be sent to every corner of the world where the U.S. military was deployed.

“Because I had long legs, I got to go up on top and rivet the airplanes. And we all had to wear jeans and glasses and everything so we wouldn’t mess up,” Rexroad said.

Those years during the war had a lasting impact on Rexroad’s life. Her daughter Luella is the president of the American Rosie the Riveter Association, and Rexroad had the honor of a lifetime last fall, meeting President Joe Biden and receiving a Presidential Medal for her service.

All three women plan to participate in the Grand Floral Parade this year on a special float honoring original Rosie’s who served on the homefront all those years ago.

All also say their wartime jobs inspired them as young women back then, and hope that sharing their stories will inspire other young girls and women to pursue their dreams.

“Women felt more sure they could do things,” said Lafreniere. “Before that you were told you couldn’t do things and we knew we could.”

The Rosie the Riveter National Convention will be held in Portland the same weekend as the Grand Floral Parade, and organizers say it’s also the 25th anniversary of the American Rosie the Riveter Association.

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