While Veterans Day is still in our minds I'd like to share both my parents fairly unique efforts... [View all]

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during WWII (my mom even more than my dad).

First a Shout Out my Uncle George who was in,
and returned from The Battle of The Bulge.

So- my dad (Navy trained in Hawaii, ?Chicago, DC) ended up with some classification in radio. Still think I have his discharge paper.

He ended up (how many hundreds, maybe a few thousand workers did this in total across the country) working out of NJ maybe Sperry Rand. He was one of 3-4 people in a specialized work-eat-sleep train car that'd go out for ?2-4 days at a time to monitor the soundness, and safety of the rails within a certain radius of the NY, NJ, CN area, or NJ alone.

This was bc the rail lines were now obviously experiencing x-times more runs in quantity, as well as weight bearing loads. Metal faitgue of this kind as some of you know is not dectectable ftom the outside unless cracks are visible. This was not often so.

The car had Oscilloscopes that connected (educated guess eventually to rods with some kind of joins with flexibility) that finally (this I know) ended in a broad brush holder with metal brushes that contacted, and swept over the rail as the car road along. The faitgue which was a steady, invisible hollowing out from the inside of the rail would send a different electrical signal; which showed up in various abnormal patterns on the oscilloscope.

They'd get out of the car, and I think spray painted the rail(s) so that a repair car would go out afterwards. I can't remember whether he watched the scope, checked the brushes, maybe the crew did rotation idk. I remember, and I hope my sis still has it - he gave me an article from ? titled "The G Men of The Rails".
(you know I've never tried googling it. After soon to be dinner!) 👍
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Now my mom has even a more unique story. I could kick myself now as to not asking her how she ended up doing this particular job!

(she also did work down at the southern end of Mahattan along with many, many other volunteers in the tents pitched up helping the returning wounded soldiers)

She trained as a dressmaker, and seamstress previous to the war here in NYC. She however moved to California, and shared a house and a backyard (avocado trees!) with roommates.

She ended up at Hughes Aircraft as a draftswoman. I remember her telling me about doing the drafts for the ectrical box in the inside of the ship that led to the cables that connected to the double turret guns. The ones you see in films that go back, and forth - one pulled back while the other one is forward. Small but impresive detail, imho.

But wait... There's more, which I didn't know till a few decades afterwards...

She wasn't just a draftswoman:
she was The Head Draftsperson to a department of 70 - 100 drafrspeople (mostly men, I'm guessing). It was she who initialed, and signed off on everyone's work!

She ended up returning to NYC. There she probably got the initial offer to interview at (suddenly forgot the name) by her next younger brother.
There she also did drafting. She told me about drafting the scope/sights for some new at that point secret gun.

Then about ?10 years ago that same uncle who got her the interview said she not only did that but when they found out she was a serious dressmaker they (his mermory wasn't quite as sharp as it had been they might have asked her to help design some kind of flight suit.

I've tried to research both of these more through the last two decades off and on without any luck.

Finally sometime before she moved west, she was either an honorable mention, or third place winner in joint contact by ?3 major NYC papers at the time -
design practical, but nice clothes for the women war work force going into the farms, and factories.

My sis found the article about this going through her dress making stuff when she moved into the Nursing Home. She never told us about that (Although, she did make all of us clothes that looked like they came from Saks Fifth Ave in the quality of their construction!👍🧡 )


Thanks, in advance to anyone reading partly, or fully through this. 👍