WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Sunday, the Hannah Block Historic USO Center closed out it’s Wartime Wilmington Week with a familiar face.
The building hosted an informative session on Rosie the Riveter, the symbol of U.S. women during World War II. The session featured slides and storytelling by Wilbur Jones, a local historian, and a performance by Rosie herself.
The even closed out a week of WWII themed events meant to highlight Wilmington’s role in the 1940’s, celebrate the Hannah Block USO’s 80th anniversary, and preserve our historic buildings by remembering their pasts.
According to Jones, there’s no better way to end the week than by putting the spotlight on our own hometown heroes that kept Wilmington running.
“Rosie the Riveter was during World War Two and is still today the, not only the iconic symbol of the war,” Jones explained, “but she imparts exactly what we were trying to do on the Homefront to win the war in the United States.”
Women played a vital role during World War II, doing everything from volunteering with the Red Cross, to working factory and shipyard jobs, to even going overseas serving as typists, photographers, and mail sorters.