Virginia Rodriguez Rusch

Meet Virginia Rodriguez, who was born in 1927 and raised in Detroit. She was the middle child, having an older sister and a younger brother. She was a child of the depression, but better off than many, as her father worked continuously as a millwright for Ford.

She attended Western High School, located across from Clark Park on the southwest side of Detroit, on Brandon St.

In 1942, with the war on, Virginia decided leave school and to get a job. (She was in 10th grade.) A friend told her of a place hiring that was just a quick streetcar ride and a short walk from there. The kicker was, she was too young to work… so she used her auntie’s birthdate identification information to secure the position.

Young Virginia’s new job was working for Republic Aircraft Products. She remembers stations set up in one area of the building, where she would sit on a stool and solder nose cones together for airplane propellers. To her left was a bin with the metal mesh framework of the nose cone, and she would add the completed piece to a bin on the right. Men would come and load and empty the bins as needed, my mom just had to sit and solder the cones. They would all gather at another area for lunch (she brought a bag lunch… fried egg sandwich was her favorite!) and then when the shift was over, she would walk to the streetcar and head home.

The irony is that Virginia never thought she was doing anything special. She says wanted to be able to buy new clothes, and not wear hand me downs from her auntie. So, she went and got a job. It was no big deal, it was just work. However, that work and Virginia, were a part of the great Arsenal of Democracy.