PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The millions of women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, collectively known as “Rosie the Riveter,” received the country’s highest civilian honor on Wednesday: the Congressional Gold Medal.
One of those “Rosies,” a woman from Bucks County, had long lobbied lawmakers for the honor in the first place.
Mae Krier was only 17 when she started working as a riveter at the Boeing Aircraft facility in Seattle, where she helped build B-17 and B-29 bombers. She moved to Pennsylvania after the war and has worked to give fellow Rosies the recognition they deserve ever since.
About two dozen Rosies were honored at Wednesday’s Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in Washington, D.C., including Krier, now 98.
“For all of the Rosies everywhere, we have gone down in history — isn’t that great?” she said. “This medal represents the millions of women who went to work during World War II. We helped our country during the war. We also helped save the world, and I think that’s outstanding.”
Krier resides in Levittown, Bucks County, where she is a constituent of U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Sen. Bob Casey. Both politicians worked with Krier to get a bill through Congress in 2020 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosies for their wartime contributions.
Fitzpatrick said the honor for the “living legends” was long overdue, adding that the women should be proud of themselves for their service and sacrifice. After all, “Rosie the Riveter” is a great American story, said Casey.
“It’s a story of service and sacrifice. It’s a story of putting forth effort on behalf of our country at a perilous time, and in so many ways, Mae’s story is a story of all of the Rosies, all of their contributions,” he said.