4 THE SURPRISE ATTACK The US remained neutral for two years during the Second World War 1939-1945 But everything changed on December 7 1941 That day the Japanese navy bombed Pearl Harbor a US naval base in Hawaii President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan the next day The US had entered World War II The USS Shaw explodes during the attack on Pearl Harbor
The US United Kingdom and Soviet Union a union of republics that included Russia were the Big Three Allied powers They and other Allied countries fought the Axis powers Germany Italy and Japan World War II challenged America in more ways than the country could imagine Despite American practices of discrimination against people of color and LGBTQIA people many marginalized Americans wanted to help the country fight and win the war They faced hatred racism and sexism Yet these challenges didn't stop them from serving in the US military Wong Ruth Mae Moy works on part of an aircraft engine in 1943 USN 702 US Navy members train in 1942 5
ROSIE THE RIVETER men in the US left to fight overseas in World War When II many jobs needed to be filled The government started a campaign to encourage women to work at these jobs during wartime Rosie the Riveter an image of a female worker with the message We can do it became a symbol of the campaign Millions of women took jobs to help during the war Sallie See Moi Choi works at a defense plant in Los Angeles California
RUTH WILSON Ruth Wilson was a Black woman born in 1922 in Maryland During the war Wilson's husband was serving in the US military overseas while she worked as a housekeeper and raised their two daughters In 1942 Wilson left her job as a housekeeper and trained as a sheet metal worker at Edward W. Bok Technical High School in Philadelphia Then she became a sheet metal worker in the Philadelphia Navy Yard Wilson helped build the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge It made me feel good because my husband was over there in Europe fighting and here I was doing my part Wilson said about working during the war On September 8 2021 ninety nine year old Wilson returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a ceremony honoring her role during the war CALLEY FORGE USS Valley Forge 7
