i'm oliver north. and we're at the rosie the riveter park. this is one of 147 vessels built here during world war two and the last one still afloat. it was built by a labor force that included more than 25,000 women. during world war ii, secretary of war simpson called those women the finest source of labor available. and they were. as you'll see in this very special edition of war stories, over 6 million women answered the call to serve their country. these were the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters, who helped change the course of history during world war ii. this is their story. ♪ >> i was acting first sergeant and a drill sergeant. in cadence, hupp, two, three, four, to the rear, march! >> i completed basic training. i felt that i was in better shape then than anytime before or since. >> i felt like i was doing something for my country. >> as war clouds gathered over europe, president roosevelt was caught between isolationists at home and the pleas from his british ally, winston churchill, already fighting the nazis. fdr vowed to supply our friends across the pond. he outlined his plan to increase our industrial might in a famous speech. ? we must have more ships, more guns, more planes, more of everything. we must apply ourselves to the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war. >> and a year later, we were. >> december 1941 sneak attack on pearl harbor galvanized the nation like never before. millions of men would fight a three-front war. and as the men left home, so did the women. >> there's no doubt that world war ii changes everything for women. >> before the war, women didn't work and weren't encouraged to work because of the depression. a woman working was considered taking a job from a man who really needs it. >> emily yellen is a veteran journalist and author of the book "our mothers' war." >> suddenly the government needed women and needed women to work. and they had a real p.r. problem, because they had to switch the consciousness of america and make it okay to work, in fact, making it honorable. when i found out about wonder woman, in a way, for me, she was metaphor. she would turn into wonder woman, and she fought the nazis. >> recruiting housewives proved to be a delicate task. husbands across the nation were reticent to let their wives work. the government started a determined campaign to lure women into factories, flooding the air waves and magazines with images and slogans, in june of 1942 they started owi. >> what was owi? >> they produced propaganda. that's why rosie the riveter became important for what the government needed in a woman. >> at the present time, it is of paramount importance that the women and girls of our country be given training so they may do their share. ♪ >> as you can see in these recruiting films, elinor roosevelt elicited the help of young katharine hepburn. one of the volunteer red cross girls was carolyn, emily's own mother who gave her inspiration for her book. >> she died in 1999. i found two shoe boxes marched 1940. and i found letters that she had written home to her parents in oklahoma when she was in the red cross in%4kx saipan. >> what motivated your mom to join the red cross in world war ii? >> there's a letter, the one where she tells her parents this is what she wants to do. i want to do something active and direct. >> during the war, the women were called to tasks that they'd never done before. >> i had never, ever expected to work outside the home. that just wasn't something i'd even thought about. >> phyllis mckee was one of the 2.5 million women hired to work in the defense industry. the mother from oregon decided to become a welder at the keiser shipyard in california. >> how many of your classmates were women? >> well, i don't remember any. >> you were the only gal in the room? >> i think so. >> this new apprentice was making a good wage, 90 cents an hour at a time when wartime production was at its peak. 50% of adult women were working outside the home and factories and shipyards were running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. soon phyllis's job turned into a family affair. >> when you would go to work, what about your son? who looked after him? >> marian, my sister, came down from oregon. and then another sister came. eventually, my mom came. >> did they all stay with you? >> well, eventually, i asked to go on graveyard shift so that we could take shifts in the bed. it got crowded, you know, both sides of her family were coming down to stay in the house. ♪ >> marian mckee was just a teenager when she arrived in california to babysit her nephew and finish school. >> i attended art classes. it was a six-week crash course in engineering drawing. >> when you were looking after your sister's son, did it occur to you that what she was doing was quite an adventure? >> in a way, yes. we were coming to marry young and become home makers. sister number two became a welder and my mother became a painter. >> was phyllis as a welder as good as a man? >> better. women did embroidery work, crocheting work, knitting. all those things that you not only knew the technique, you wanted it to be beautiful. and it was the same with welding. >> when you look back on that, this is a pretty dangerous job. >> well, sometimes you get a spark that would roll down into your glove. there'd be little round bbs of hot metal, and it'd just roll around and your skin would just turn black. >> phyllis was promoted to journeyman and now made $1 per hour. the same wage as her husband buster, also a welder. but the salary increase would come at a price. >> he didn't want me to go to work. he expected totally to be the head of his household. i was not allowed money. so he controlled everything until that point. there were major changes. >> i would reckon. >> and ultimately, the marriage didn't survive. we proved once and for all that a woman was physically strong enough to do a man's job. and do it well. >> coming up, a young army captain named ronald reagan launches the hollywood career of one of hollywood's most famous hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult? adulting... tj! get a job! hi, guys. i'm back. time to slay! heals, heals, heals! yes! youuuu! no, i have a long time girlfriend. mom! i need my macaroni!!! you know what's easy? building your website with godaddy. pick a domain name. choose a design. you can build a website in under an hour. yeah! whoo! yes! get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. build a better website in under an hour. by 1943, the allies were fully engaged against the nazis and the japanese. back home, some 6 million women filled the shoes of the absent men and kept the war machine running. the women in the mckee family were no exception. they were knowledge the 500,000 working at the shipyard in california. with henry keiser's technique of fabrication, they opened new doors for women. >> keiser is an absolute genius, to build the deck houses they laid the slab of steel down. and we welded the walls up. we were standing on what would be the ceiling. >> how long would it take you to make a deck house? >> at one time, we turned them out one a day in three shifts. >> phyllis's younger sister marian joined her at the shipyard as a draftsman. >> tell me about your first day at work. >> masses of people. masses of people. but there was a spirit of energy. and a can-do attitude. >> did anybody tell you you couldn't talk about what were you doing outside the yard? >> not about the drafting, but we were all told to keep our mouths shut about what was going on. >> what was the best part? >> i was helping my government, and i felt that i had something to contribute. >> 2,000 miles away in indiana, lohr lie pryor was happy to be doing her part. >> i felt proud to be doing something for my country. >> she wanted to build airplanes but ended up at this general electric plant. >> they are big machines, and they were across from each other. that's wherely to lift the armatures from one machine to the other. i thank god i was able to do it. ♪ >> wartime shortages were a harsh reality for families across america. the first food item to be rationed in may of '42 was sugar. >> we had to get ration tickets for hose and sugar, gasoline. my husband, he loved fudge. and so did i. so we bought 100-pound sack of sugar and hid it under the bed. and anyhow, the mice got in it and ruined it. >> general mills responded to the challenge women faced in the kitchen and whisked america's first culinary wizard into the kitchen, betty crocker. >> she was voted the most popular woman in america after elinor roosevelt. she had been created by general mills, because they wanted a friendly face. and they made it out of a composite of people who worked in the department in general mills that created her. and they had war recipes, you know, that didn't use things that were rationed or used less sugar or, you know, milk or eggs. >> mil silk is vital for nation defense. >> even mundane things like silk stockings were a luxury. >> we'd draw lines on our legs so we'd look like we had stockings on. >> norma jean dougherty's husband was in the merchant marines. >> she was just another war wife. one day a certain captain named ronald reagan decided it would be important to document the women worker. he sent a photographer out to find the prettiest woman on the assembly line, and this photographer found marilyn monroe. that was the start of marilyn monroe's career. >> many hollywood starlets did their part to help the war effort. in 1942, veronica leak cut off her trademark long hair in an effort to urge women factory workers to adopt a safer hairstyle. >> betty ghraible came close to displaying the traits. she was a glamorous movie star. >> sexy. >> sexy. and she was also a mother and the girl next door. she got letters from men who told her that, you know, looking at her picture reminded them of everything they were fighting for. >> this legendary pinup photo reached an estimated 5 million g.i.s. but hollywood actresses weren't limited to just looking pretty. >> hetty lamar does her bit. >> she had beauty and brains. in 1942, she helped patent a device later used by our military during the cold war. silver screen sirens like carol lombard, clark gable's wife crisscrossed the nation on war bond tours. her life ended tragically when her plane crashed killing her and 22 others. before that ill-fated flight she said to her fans, before i say good-bye to you all, join me in a big cheer, v for victory. coming up, she threw a mean curve ball. when war stories returns, a woman who played for a team that inspired the movie "a league of who knew that phones would start doing everything? entertaining us, getting us back on track, and finding us dates. phones really have changed. so why hasn't the way we pay for them? introducing xfinity mobile. you only pay for data and can easily switch between pay per gig and unlimited. no one else lets you do that. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit or go to xfinitymobile.com. opening of spring practice for the all american girls baseball league, a wartime emergency league that was started when this thought male baseball was doomed by the draft. ♪ >> fall, 1942, american baseball hits a crisis, and women step up to the plate, literally. ♪ >> baseball. how did women break into baseball? >> the wrigley family decided that they could start a baebl league of women. and it's very famous from the movie "a league of their own." those women went around the midwest and played baseball and entertained in a way that, you know, the women had never done before. >> this playing baseball kept their minds off the war. ♪ >> before she inspired hollywood, dottie collins pitched with a career 76 losses. this 5'7" athlete also threw a mean curve ball. >> my dad taught me. i'm probably the only one who had a curve ball in the league. >> but it wasn't just about talent. >> we had to walk with a book on our head to teach us how to walk like ladies. we were supposed to be ladies. and of course our theory was, if you're going to play baseball, you can't be a lady. >> with females, even in baseball getting dressed is a big production. looks okay though, at that. hi, ya, honey. >> it was a one-piece dress you might say. most of them we shortened right up to the knee. >> dottie was a winner during her career, but in 1948, she laced up her cleats one last time to settle down with her best fan, harvey, a sailor on leave who spotted her on the diamond. >> i was ready to get married and have kids. >> on 13 june 1942, fdr created the office of strategic services. the uss employed civilians and people from all branches of the armed services. some were women. >> there was a woman named virginia hall who was a very famous, it turns out, spy. she was about 38, and she decided that she would become an old woman. so she had, you know, a hunch back and gray hair and she had a wooden leg. >> a real wooden leg. >> a real wooden leg.pivotal in planning of d-day. >> julia childs, was also emerging. another smuggled food and medicine and eventually got caught by the japanese. code named ms. u, she was tortured and survived and went on to receive the medal of freedom. >> the decision to bring women into the military is driven by what? >> you can go back as far back as the american revolution. every one of our conflicts, there were women serving. usually up through and including the degree of the civil war. they disguised themselves as men or they were there as a woman nursing. >> wilma vaught is the director of the women's memorial in arlington, virginia. >> it was through the benefit of the services that bring these better-qualified women in than to go deeper into the pool of available men. >> world war i, that changes. >> when the navy brought enlisted women into the navy reserve and the marine corps reserve they gave them rank. so when world war ii came, there was that precedent. >> nearly 400,000 women take off their aprons and join the armed business for the very latest in business news. by 1944, 6 million women had blazed a new triail for the womn who would

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