(Plainview News) Evelyn Eichberger, age 98 of Plainview, holds onto a past that many in the area may not know about.
While at one point in time, Eichberger was surrounded by millions that shared a similar story as her, there are now very few in the United States that can say they did what she did.
During World War II, Eichberger was one of approximately six million women in the United States who stepped up to work in factories and other places while a significant num ber of men in the country were away fighting in the war.
In other words? Eichberger was a real-life “Rosie the Riveter.”
In the year 1943, Eichberger was 17 years old and had just graduated from Osmond High School when she decided she wanted to go work in Omaha at the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant, an aircraft manufacturing facility, with her brother, who was already employed there.
Unfortunately for her, it was a rule that workers had to be 18 at the plant, so she was forced to settle for a job at a meat packing plant until she was old enough.
However, despite having to wait that extra time to work at the plant, Eichberger didn’t change her mind.
As soon as she turned 18, Eichberger joined the many workers at the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant in hopes to help serve her country during a tough time by building airplanes.
Despite being 98 years old at the time of press, Eichberger doesn’t have much trouble recalling what her time at the plant was like.
“I remember they put me in wing assembly,” Eichberger recalled. “It was a very large room, and it was so loud from all of the riveting guns that we had to wear ear plugs just to work.
I worked every day from 4 p.m. to midnight and made 60 cents an hour.”
Eichberger recalled the wings being made in three separate parts. She was stationed to work on the middle part of each wing.
"There were two pieces laying flat and we’d drill holes into them,” she remembered. “When we got that done, they raised it (the middle part of the wing) straight up and down. One person drove rivets and the other busted the rivets on the other side.”
While she wasn’t one of the soldiers fighting overseas, it was obvious to Eichberger and her coworkers just how important the work they were doing was to the future of America.
“I remember an inspector would come by and inspect every single rivet,” she said. “If they weren’t right, you drilled it out and had to do it again. Of course they were strict with us, they had to be. That plane that we were building was going to go up in the air; it had to be perfect.”
Eichberger didn't get tired of her job, either. Despite the loud conditions and somewhat odd hours, she continued working in the plant until it closed at the end of the war.
“I’m glad I did it,” she admitted with joy. "I remember taking my own lunch bucket, I remember getting in my neighbor’s pickup (who also worked at the plant) to travel to work every day. Other workers would hop in the back on the way to the plant; by the time we got there it was always full. I was young, and I enjoyed it."
Despite all of this happening 80 years ago, Eichberger was very recently reminded of her time at the plant with a gift from someone she least expected.
“I was sitting outside one afternoon when a pickup drove into my neighbor’s driveway,” she said. “It was Kevin North, and he was visiting his
came from the floor of the plant where she worked EICHBERGER IS REAL LIFE ROSIE THE RIVETER grandparents, Loring and Lois. He got out of the pickup to come talk to me and he told me that he is in the service and is working at the same place that I used to work as a riveter.”
As a gift, North brought Eichberger a wooden brick from what used to be the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant.
The wooden brick came from the floor of the plant, which Eichberger recalled was wooden to help eliminate the static electricity in the building.
Between receiving her wooden brick from North and her recent discussions with The Plainview News, it’s clear Eichberger is never going to forget the time she spent serving this country, whether she wants to or not.
While Eichberger’s time as a riveter has long since passed, her brief time at the factory will be remembered by future generations as an act of bravery and patriotism by a whole generation of American women.
Eichberger currently resides in Plainview, with what’s left of her riveter days being dwindled down to a wooden brick, a picture of an aircraft on one of her nightstands, and the everlasting memories of her time at the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant in Omaha.
