Reservations (ONC24)

Chapter 3- Bea

TW- Racism & Homophobia

Henry had been in Europe for about five or six months by the time I went to work. I knew from his letters that he was not overly keen on me working but I had no children and no man to look after. I was envious of all the neighborhood women going out to work. So by May 1942 I decided I was going to give it a try.

I remember going in for my first day with Stella Fry, our neighbor, her husband was in the air force. She'd gotten me the job. Put a word in with the boss's son.

We were working for a local family firm who had given over their workplace to help the war effort, Mr. Robert Stephens senior was in his early 60s and he looked every year of it. As my mother would have said he looked like he had had a hard paper round.

He was strict but fair, we had to clock in before 8am and clock out at 12 for lunch for 30 minutes and then be back at our machines by 1230 until 430 in the afternoon, six days a week. With one Saturday off a month. It was hard work, but none of us complained. Another shift came in at 430 and worked through to half past midnight. So the plant was working 16 hours a day.

I had never been in a factory before, the noise of the machines battering and banging clattered constantly and the smell was like burnt oil and well I guess metal like copper, an old cent but it was extreme it took over your senses. And the heat was something else, it was like standing in hell's furnace.

So anyway I was talking about Bea. There were ten of us in my section. Rita, Red is what the gals called her because of her hair color, she was our section leader. She was not the type of woman I would have ever met in any other circumstances. Stella, Me, Marsha, Cathy, Diane, Kathleen, Miranda, Holly and of course Bea.

You can probably tell from what I've already told you that I was brought up pretty conservative. And I'll be honest with you until then I had never met a person of color. And there she was this tall black woman with the most amazing cheekbones I had ever seen in my life. I know I must have been staring because her first words to me were,

"Hey Blondie, what y' staring at ain't you ever seen a black woman before?"

I remember smiling shyly and responding, "no, ma'am."

That was all we spoke to each other for the first few weeks. She'd disappear at lunchtime. She didn't really mix with the rest of us. Kept herself to herself. I would find myself sometimes just watching her while she worked. We were building planes for Boeing the B-17 and B-29 bombers.

She would cut the metal to size for it to be warmed up for it to be shaped. I was at the other end of the line when I was joining it together. I was a bunker and a riveter.

I was very slight, I used to have to climb into the wing cavities to bunker each rivet, the riveter would work on the outside and I on the inside. It wasn't easy, it was a very narrow space. Not something I would recommend if you had any fear of tight spaces.

There was a camaraderie like I've never experienced since, we'd mostly all get along as we did our jobs. There would be little light gossip over lunch and some what I will call some risky humor the likes of which I had never been exposed to before. I'd always feel a bit guilty about laughing but it was mostly light and made the day pass quicker.

I think Bea and I spoke maybe a handful of times. I would always find myself a little more nervous around her, she was the strong silent type. I was never really quite sure what to say, so I'd ask her about what she did with her day off, or how she was if I had to go into her section for anything. I don't know what it was but I had a desire to get to know her, sometimes when we had a little down time in my part of the line I would find myself just watching her work. She seemed stronger than the rest of us, she was definitely the tallest. I used to be about 5ft 7 before I started shrinking. She was at least a head taller than me. Sometimes she'd catch me looking and would send a smile my way.