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Local Preservationists Seek To Reclaim Their 'Rosie' Record

Wikimedia Commons
One of the original 'Rosies' at the Willow Run Bomber Plant during WWII

Preservation activists are hoping for more than a thousand Rosie the Riveters to come to the Willow Run Airport Saturday. 
 

Willow Run was once home to the plant that built an icon of wartime in the 1940s: the B-24 Liberator bombers.  It's also believed by some to be the birthplace of another U.S. icon, Rosie the Riveter.
 

"It's thought the term Rosie the Riveter came after Rose Monroe, who worked right here in Ypsilanti Township," says David Callanan, Director of Outreach Services at the Yankee Air Museum. 
 

The museum wants to make its permanent home at the site of the former Willow Run bomber plant. To do that, they'll need funding and a little attention from the public. That's  where Rosie comes in.  Callanan says the museum wants to take back the Guinness World record from a group in California who brought together 1,084 Rosies in August.
 

Credit Christy Hoffman

Callanan says that will take more than 1,084 individuals dressed as Rosie to arrive at the Willow Run Airport Hangar One.  The event begins at 10am tomorrow morning with officials photos at 2pm.  Dress guidelines are available at www.savethebomberplant.org.
 
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- Amanda LeClaire is an assignment reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact her at 734.487.3363 or email her: aleclair@emich.edu

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