who woulda thought

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I have an aunt on my wife's side who lives in New Hampshire in Hooksett. I've seen her maybe about 12 times in the 30 years that i've known her. This past week one of my wife's sisters brought her down for a visit. We never talked much as she is just about totally deaf even with aides. At any rate, when they pulled in, I was welding up something in the garage and with my mask on didn't see or hear them. I was surprised that when I stood up and lifted the mask, there was my wife's aunt standing right next to me with a big smile on her face. She then instructed me what to do with hold angle, speed and amps for what i was welding. As you can imagine, i was rather shocked. Come to find out, this woman was a ship's welder during WWII and she met her husband while she was welding when a welding glob fell on his head. She was a pretty little thing back then and you can tell even now as she is in her 89th year. I was wondering if she could still weld but she said she would have trouble with the mask so I didn't press it. She is still sharp as a sharks tooth and has full mobility. If she wasn't so deaf, you could actually talk to her and what a wealth she must be. Perhaps one quiet evening I might get to do that yet.

 

[TripleR]

That's great to hear, I've tried to get some elderly relatives to talk more about the rich lives they've lived, but not had much luck, hope you are successful.

 

[k0ua]

Wow, what an uplifting story. My mother worked in the ship yards on the west coast building liberty ships also. I don't know what her job title was, but she took a long list of pipe fittings and put them in a cart to take to the people assembling the plumbing in the ship.. She definitely knew what all sorts of weird plumbing fittings were.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I think in general the people from the "Greatest Generation" don't really talk all that much about what they had to go through, and not just the war but life itself. My dad didn't and he was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the air raid and my mom still doesn't. Sometimes I think that they figure it was just part of life and they did what needed to be done.

Just my :2cents:

 

[Big Barn]

What a great story. As you say " who woulda thought?"

My father's oldest sister received a commendation of some sort (I have the photo and newspaper article somewhere) for being the first female weldor working in the shipyards here in Victoria during WWII. I think she was in her late teens at the time.

Terry

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

Awesome story

 

[Daver1963]

I think in general the people from the "Greatest Generation" don't really talk all that much about what they had to go through, and not just the war but life itself. My dad didn't and he was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the air raid and my mom still doesn't. Sometimes I think that they figure it was just part of life and they did what needed to be done.

Just my :2cents:

I was reading a book called "Civil War Fathers: Sons of the Civil War in World War II" and it seemed a common theme from these gentlemen was that when the Depression hit they were so poor to begin with they didn't notice anything different.

 

[skyhook]

Thanks for the great story,
it's a reminder to me, that our elders have a wealth of knowledge among them.
She must have been amazed on the "auto darkening" helmets.

 

[Travelover]

Cool! Wanda the Welder.

 

[roadhunter]

I think in general the people from the "Greatest Generation" don't really talk all that much about what they had to go through, and not just the war but life itself. My dad didn't and he was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the air raid and my mom still doesn't. Sometimes I think that they figure it was just part of life and they did what needed to be done.

Just my :2cents:

+1. We have come full circle. Now people just want attention no matter how they can get it.

 

[George2615]

Cool! Wanda the Welder.

I think it was Rosie the welder, or was she the riveter?

I think in general the people from the "Greatest Generation" don't really talk all that much about what they had to go through, and not just the war but life itself. My dad didn't and he was stationed at Pearl Harbor after the air raid and my mom still doesn't. Sometimes I think that they figure it was just part of life and they did what needed to be done.

Just my :2cents:

How right you are. My Dad was in WWII. I asked him a couple times over the years to talk about his experiences but he never did and I didn't push it. Just figured he did what he had to do. He had a wealth of mechanical knowledge and abilities that I am glad I inherited from him.

 

[KubotainNH]

Cool story. That spark show probably brought back some happy memories for her.

 

[ArmyPair2]

:laughing: My grandmother welded ships in Alameda California during the war and my Grandfather was in the Infantry in the Pacific during the war. He was also on a Liberty ship during the battle of Leyte Gulf in Philippines and a Japanese torpedo bomber did not think that ship he was on should be afloat. It took me years and lots of beer to find out what happened during that battle and the rest of the war. You know that old saying "what comes around goes around?" now my daughter does it to me and if I slip she runs to her pasture and tells him what I said.

 

[Threepoint]

Wonderful story; thanks for sharing it. Your Aunt is indeed a real-life Wanda the Welder! The real-life Rosie the Riveter and several other WWII octogenarians were recently honored in Washington a few weeks ago. Your Aunt should have been among them! Here's an article with pics: Real-life

 

[wolftree]

arrow,

Might I suggest typing in large font questions for your Aunt, so she can read the questions. You may wish to record her answers. Truly, you need to do this soon.

 

[arrow]

arrow,

Might I suggest typing in large font questions for your Aunt, so she can read the questions. You may wish to record her answers. Truly, you need to do this soon.

Not a bad suggestion Wolf. She's the type who gets insulted if you infer to her deafness. I wish I get to see her more. She may be at the next family wedding in Oct. Her eyesight is pretty keen still so I could write up some of my questions such as the ships she built, where, vertical welds? size electrodes, thickest stuff she welded, how long she did it, what'd she do after the war, etc, etc.

 

[Baby Grand]

I think that (WWII) generation's reluctance to talk about the war was based on the fact that everyone was involved in it, everyone lost friends, family and loved ones. When the fighting was over, they really didn't want to go back there. It was similar with my grandfather who got mustard gassed, in France, in the war to end all wars. I had no luck getting any details out of him. According to my dad, he was adamant in trying to discourage my dad, who had enlisted, from volunteering for active duty in Europe, in WWII, saying that what he saw had destroyed his faith in people, and he didn't want my dad to experience that loss of faith.

 

[wolftree]

There are a thousand things to ask her: her hourly wage as a welder, her certificaions, how she travelled to work, where she lived.

Ask the family for other question ideas.

 

[arrow]

I think that (WWII) generation's reluctance to talk about the war was based on the fact that everyone was involved in it, everyone lost friends, family and loved ones. When the fighting was over, they really didn't want to go back there. It was similar with my grandfather who got mustard gassed, in France, in the war to end all wars. I had no luck getting any details out of him. According to my dad, he was adamant in trying to discourage my dad, who had enlisted, from volunteering for active duty in Europe, in WWII, saying that what he saw had destroyed his faith in people, and he didn't want my dad to experience that loss of faith.

Unless one has been part of one, war is just another headline w/o the gory details to most people. I've always felt war begins with the egos of pompous men in high places. Put these individuals on a battle field doing hand to hand with their direct adversarial counterparts and I wonder what wars would have been curtailed? War is a nightmare and it is no wonder the reluctance to talk about it. Perhaps my aunt may have been removed from the hellish parts of war or even thrilled to do her part in building a liberty ship or destroyer. Hope she is able to communicate something at least.