Letter to the Editor: Ruth Wilson an invisible warrior

It is always a pleasure to read the well-documented articles by Mark Zimmaro each week in the South Philly Review. His report on a special birthday celebrated by one of history’s most heroic women, Ruth Wilson, is especially memorable (“South Philly ‘Rosie the Riveter’ turns 100,” April 5).

The story of all the women, who supported our military by taking over difficult-to-fill jobs like ship-building during World War II, is personified in the life of Ruth Wilson, who labored at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was one of the women labeled “Rosie the Riveter” after a painting by Norman Rockwell honoring female workers, especially those in jobs once held only by white men.

What makes Wilson’s story special is that she is a survivor of hundreds of thousands of African American women who helped the USA win that war. Now, as Zimmaro reports, these heroic women are being honored by filmmaker Gregory Cooke in a documentary called “Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II.”

Many thanks and bravo to Mark Zimmaro and the South Philly Review for revealing this historic occasion through his excellent report. 

Gloria C. Endres