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Lighthouses
Editor’s Note: The following is part of a series of articles on local women who have served as “Rosie the Riveters” during the Second World War.
ELKINS – Leona M. Phares wanted to be remembered for what she accomplished during WWII, so before her passing in 2007, she shared a story with her daughter Linda Shomo and made her keep her promise to do not forget.
In early December 1941, Phares was living in Akron, Ohio, in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband and two young sons. It was a typical evening when she was alarmed to hear the newspaper delivery boy shouting outside the apartment “in addition, in addition” so late in the evening.
Normally, Phares did not receive the newspaper, but that day she ran across the street to buy one. The news was about the Pearl Harbor bombing and instantly, like many, she was both devastated and scared. She knew that her husband, Dempsey, would go to war because of it. He enlisted, not because he had to, but because he felt he had to do his part to fight for America and keep his family safe.
Dempsey and many other young men enlisted to fight in World War II after hearing President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous speech “A call to sacrifice” words on April 28, 1942. Dempsey was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, to train for 17 weeks. Later, Leona and her two sons, Gary and Dick, took a train to Florida to be with Dempsey.
As Dempsey’s training wrapped up, Leona prepared to return to Akron. She wasn’t home very long when her husband was deployed to Washington, DC to be dispatched. Leona started looking for a job, and after the first one she landed didn’t work, she got a job with Goodyear Aircraft and was assigned to use a drill and iron. cut off.
This job required Leona to drill and drill exact holes on B-28s, P-37s and other bombers. She said workers would prepare the frame of the B-29 bombers to secure the sheet metal.
From there they would drill holes in the frame, put the sheet metal in place, and drill holes through. The workers then riveted the sheet metal to the frame profiles. She also wired many suicide bombers while on the job.
Leona always reminded the other Rosie the Riveters in the factory that they had to do a great job, because if an inspector missed something, it could lead a family member or someone they knew to go. end up in a crashing plane.
After the war ended, her husband returned to the United States and the family moved to West Virginia. They bought a farm on Kings Run Road in Elkins, which Leona’s family still owns.
Linda Shomo said Leona “Was a wonderful mother, neighbor and friend to all who knew her. She was an inspiration to everyone and she was one of the many Rosie the Riveters who supported the United States during the darkest times. She was a true American heroine.
Shomo, who is the president of the Emma Scott Garden Club, has kept his promise. She’s not just keeping her mother’s Rosie the Riveter legacy alive, but has publicly recognized over 46 other Rosies.
This year’s Rosie the Riveters local project was sponsored by Our Town Inc., which also collected the Rosies’ biographical information.
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