Excerpt from: A Mouthful of Rivets:
Women at Work in World War II

By Nancy Baker Wise and Christy Wise
Jossey-Base Publishers - San Francisco

Chapter Six : Coping with the Basics

Housing problems were often solved by families joining forces and living together. Rose Judge Toomey and her eight-month old daughter moved back to Toomey's family home, where her sister and brother also lived. In Toomey's case, this also solved her childcare needs while she worked in the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts, as a sheet metal worker. Even with those details taken care of, Toomey faced troubled times during the war.

"I had to work, definitely. To get to the Navy yard, I had a forty minute trip. I walked eight blocks to the bus, which took me to the train that then went right into the shipyard.

I worked from seven to three so I could get things done during the day, and my sister came home from working at the telephone company and would take over, so it wasn't too much for my mother. The war took a great toll on me. I couldn't understand all the fighting, all the killing. At the Navy yard they discharged me because of poor attendance. I worked less than a year. The war effort demanded that we give full strength and I just couldn't do it. What was going on, the headlines and all. I had a nervous breakdown. I couldn't comprehehend the war. What I should have done is not read the papers.

When they discharged me it was a big deal. I had to wait and see the commander, go down to his office, and I remember the time of the year. He was dressed in white with gold and everything, and he read me down about keeping up with my work. They actually fired me. What was difficult was that my husband's father passed away about that time.

My husband was in the Eurpopean war. He went in as an infantry person and then the Signal Corps and ended up as a photographer. He took many army pictures. He took Eisenhower. He was in the same unit as Audie Murphy - the most decorated soldier.

When we went to pick Bill up when he came home from the war we went to the station, my little girl was almost three, and all she knew about him was the picture with him in the Army hat and uniform. She just leaped out of my arms, broke away from my grip and ran to the first soldier, who was a lieutentant. My husband was a sergeant. And the soldier said to me "I wish I was coming home to this".



Rose M. (Judge) Toomey passed away on April 24, 2005 at 85 yrs. She is the wife of the late William Toomey and mother of Kathleen, Patricia, Marie, Denis and Elaine Toomey. Sister of Grace, Daniel, Leo, Anne and Joe.