Women Ordnance Workers
This photograph captures new women employees proceeding through their first few days at the Cornhusker Ordnance Plant (COP) in Grand Island, NE. This plant produced artillery shells to support the Allied war effort. The women who worked at the plant were referred to as Women Ordnance Workers, or WOWs.
During World War II some three million women worked in war plants across the United States. Working women were vital to the war effort, as the loss of men to military service left a workforce shortage in many areas. The U.S. Government undertook a major public relations campaign to encourage women to work. The use of an invented character—“Rosie the Riveter”—on a brightly colored poster was a powerful propaganda piece.
The COP was one of 60 ammunition plants built across the United States during World War II by the U.S. Army. The plant was responsible for building bombs and artillery shells. Construction of the COP began in March 1942 and was completed only six months later. On November 11, 1942, workers on Bomb Line Three of the COP operated by the Quaker Oats (Q.O.) Ordnance Corporation celebrated Armistice Day by completing the first bomb to come from a production line at the plant. While employment figures vary over time, generally over fifty percent of production employees were women. On September 26, 1944, the Q.O. Ordnance Corporation operators of the COP received notification that the plant had been awarded the Army Navy “E” Award for excellence in the production of war materiel. Production at the plant ceased on August 14, 1945.
Women move into the wartime labor force, dated 1944. National Archives Identifier: 292131
View and download the photo titled Women move into the wartime labor force on the National Archives Catalog. You can explore more records held in the National Archives at Kansas City through the National Archives Catalog or by visiting our research room in person. These records are located in Record Group 156: Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, Series: Photographs, 1942–1943.