World War II Photos: Stunning Pictures Show Americans In The 1940s (PHOTOS)

Women wielding hand drills assemble dive-bombers and an infantryman crouching next to tires brandishes a Garand rifle; these scenes in the photos below were meticulously documented by photographers working for the US government during World War II. During that time, the Library of Congress collected more than 1,600 photos taken between 1939 and 1944.

The photographs paint a fascinating portrait of the construction workers, secretaries, truck drivers, families, pilots, soldiers and women laborers who contributed to the war effort.

Check out photos of Americans on the job in the slideshow below.

Comments

[subdolphin]

06:59 PM on 05/06/2012

None of the Americans pictured appear fat and racked with self-doubt or self-loathing. No tattoos on their necks, no pharmaceutical glaze in their eyes,,,Thank god things have changed.

[jenniferkizzy]

09:23 PM on 05/05/2012

my great grand father flew a bomber in world war two see ya bye

[jenniferkizzy]

09:22 PM on 05/05/2012

simply brilliant bye

[soONErBorn37]

11:46 AM on 05/04/2012

My mother worked for the Douglas Aircraft "bomber plant" in Tulsa. She was in the first bunch hired and worked her way up to be an A mechanic doing riveting. Guess what, ladies? Douglas refused to pay the women A mechanic wages. All they could earn was the lower B mechanic rate. My mother objected and ended up moving to be an inspector. This turned out to be very good for flyers. In inspection, she taught them how to spot and fix bad riveting.

[rafey]

09:47 AM on 05/06/2012

My mother also worked for Douglas but in St. Louis, abandoning a life of ease to participate in the effort and later moved around with my father by train during the occasions when he was in the States. Even the children participated in one way or another. Fortunately, they were all richly rewarded with the plan to send the vets to college. That was what eventually made us the greatest and richest nation on the planet. But, all great things will eventually end through treachery and greed.

[paddlerchick]

08:31 AM on 05/04/2012

No obesity in the US in 1940's. Hmmm....must be just a new 'disease'

[rafey]

09:52 AM on 05/06/2012

Actually, it's quite true since the depression made food a difficult resource to get. Even afterwards, fast food and vending machines were unheard of and I do recall having to make long treks homeward just to get a tiny sandwich to eat. In fact, we were statistically an incredibly healthy population over all. But death did arrive rather early due to the terrible difficulty of access to medical care for the aging population after a lifetime of miserably hard work and living conditions. That all changed in the 60s and now the aged are a hardworking lot who contribute greatly to our nation's survival. I can't really say just how much longer that will continue.

[tbmuscg70]

10:00 AM on 05/03/2012

I grew up near Baltimore Md. in the 1950's and had the priviledge of knowing 2 women who had worked at Martin's aircraft assembly plant in Essex, Md. They were the mothers of my friends, and they helped to defeat our enemys in WW2.

[Jaslene]

11:38 PM on 05/02/2012

Xerxes: You Greeks take pride in your logic. I suggest you employ it. Consider the beautiful land you so vigorously defend. Picture it reduced to ash at my whim! Consider the fate of your women!

Spartan King Leonidas: Clearly you don't know our women! I might as well have marched them up here, judging by what I've seen.

[Jaslene]

11:35 PM on 05/02/2012

The women hands in these pictures were clean because they didn't work in the grime. Notice the men worked the grimey jobs and the women worked with the clean machine parts. You'll even notice one woman wore gloves to protect her hand. I love how they worked in mechanics, worked for the country, had dignity about themselves (not many women have that about themselves in this day and age) and still came to work making sure they looked like a woman. A lot of them had their fingernails painted (probably helped keep their fingernails from looking dirty), some had on lipstick and all of them had their hair curled. If any of them had on scarves to protect their hair from grime or heat, you better believe they still wore lipstick and/or fingernail polish. Love it!

[GeeBee]

03:47 PM on 05/03/2012

I would bet you any money that most of those women knew the photographer was coming, and wore makeup, nail polish, whatever, that they would not have worn on a typical work day. What's the point of putting on red nail polish to rivet a plane? Most of it would be chipped off pretty fast. The point of the photos was to show "typical" women making their contribution to the war effort.
And there are a lot of jobs where I (a manly man!) would put on protective gloves too. Ever work with sheet metal?

[maverick9808]

12:04 PM on 05/04/2012

Lets not forget these are PR pics and intended to show the military men working has not turned women into men. Some of the pictures are so blatantly orchestrated

[SimonBao]

08:34 PM on 05/02/2012

I've seen lots of similar photos, but perhaps never color photos like these. For me, at least, that's surprising.

[BeasleysMom]

08:27 PM on 05/02/2012

Just think if Fox news had been around they would have asked Americans to hate on these people working in the plants, especially the women, because they were making good money and benefits They would make some case against women being in the workplace at all. They would instruct people to be angry because there was too much government involvement in the plants. We would have lost the war for sure.

[outlawjames8]

10:50 PM on 05/02/2012

Mittens would find a way to fire them. Newton would take the lone black lady and reassigned her to janitorial duties with others of her kind. Pope Santourm would be having the time of his life; gays are still in the closet, minorities and woman were in their rightful place, and back alley coat hanger specials are the call of the day.

[Bob Moody]

07:36 PM on 05/02/2012

Why is it that almost all of the women in these photos look like madels. No skin blemishes, trim and fit. but they look like eith they are actually working or the set up is very real- dirty fingers and smucges on the clothes etc. So which is it are these photo advertisemnts or are they real?

[vallowery1]

06:50 PM on 05/02/2012

Is she going to drill into the guys hand !?! No because it is not a drill, it is a rivet gun.

[Cyrus Trance]

06:18 PM on 05/02/2012

During WWII my mom installed wiring to the avionics in light bombers at Hughes aircraft.

[myngbl]

06:11 PM on 05/02/2012

stop it already with the 'greatest generation' crappolla. Come on, you did what was expected of you. Most of us do.

[Celtic0k9]

06:43 PM on 05/02/2012

yeah...you're right -- you did what was expected of you -- diminished the accomplishments of others and bit the hand that feeds you.... nothing like being part of the "ME" generation, huh?

[myngbl]

09:04 PM on 05/02/2012

ah....my point; your children hate most of you.

[Bob Moody]

07:34 PM on 05/02/2012

Accordingly, it is unfortunate that much is expected of you.

[vallowery1]

06:10 PM on 05/02/2012

Umm... thats not a drill. They are not drilling holes, they are installing rivets. It is a rivet gun and the guy is holding a bucking bar. Yes, I am an aircraft mechanic.