The one of the original women who inspired the iconic “Rosie The Riveter” image passed away at the age of 95 in New York City.
According to NBC News, Rosalind P. Walter was one of the inspiration for the infamous World War II icon “Rosie The Riveter.” Historical sources say she was the inspiration behind the song under a similar title after she spent a year working at the Sikorsky aircraft plant when she was 19. Her death was announced earlier by WNET, the official station for PBS.
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“Walter cared deeply about the quality and educational value of public television and understood the importance of reaching the broadest possible audience,”
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Walter was also the inspiration for the 1943 song “Rosie the Riveter” where it talked about a young woman who worked the night shift as a welder during the war. The song became an anthem for women who took the place of men who were fighting for the country.
Later in her life, Rosalind became a philanthropist and donated to PBS and WNET. However, she isn’t the only inspiration behind the iconic image as Noami Parker Fraley and Mae Krier also worked during the war. Krier was hired to work for Boeing at the age of 17 and learned how to work rivets.
‘When the war took place, the men went to war and so did the women. They went in the trenches, but we went in the aircraft factories and the shipyards. We did whatever had to be done in order to win the war,’