During World War II, as men marched off to war, thousands of their wives, mothers, girlfriends
and daughters went to work at Ford Motor Company’s Willow Run plant and elsewhere, assembling bombers and earning the nickname Rosie the Riveter. This week, in celebration of Veterans Day, six original "Rosie the Riveter" workers were passengers aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress.
These "Rosie's", ranging in age from 90-96, gathered at a hangar near the former Willow Run Plant assembly line for photos and a meeting with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell. After that, they spent half an hour flying over Ann Arbor and nearby farms. Ford Group Vice President Ziad Ojakli, whose group includes Ford Motor Company Fund, and Group Vice President and General Counsel David Leitch, executive champion of the Ford Veterans Network, accompanied the "Rosie's" and had the pleasure of going along for the ride.
The Willow Run plant was built by Ford Motor Company and featured a mile long assembly line that cranked out one B-24 every hour. At peak production during World War II, the Willow Run Plant employed 42,000 workers with as many as one third of them pioneering women industrial workers, collectively nicknamed "Rosie the Riveter."
