Women Kept Guitars Strumming During WWII
March 28, 2013
A young archer in training
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
I’m June Simms.
Today we hear from country singer Gary Allan and play music from his latest album.
And, we answer a question about the number thirteen.
But, first we learn about women who went to work during World War Two at a famous guitar manufacturer.
The Women of Gibson Guitars' Past
During World War Two, as American men went off to war, women filled the jobs they left behind. Women worked in factories, stores and shipyards. One group of women made musical instruments, building Gibson guitars. Christopher Cruise has more on their story.
John Thomas is a writer and a lover of guitars. He was surprised when he saw a wartime photograph of the Gibson guitar factory in Michigan. Nearly all of the 75 people in the picture were women. Irene Stearns, now age 90, spent several of the war years working at the factory.
“I got out of high school and everybody is looking for a job, and there weren’t any jobs. Then one day, they called and I started at Gibson. I suppose it was because of the war.”
Irene Stearns is one of the former Gibson factory workers who John Thomas found in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. She made guitar strings for some of the thousands of instruments the factory produced in the 1940s.
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