Mildred Bonvillian Aupied was born in Bayou Black near Houma in Terrebonne Parish [Annotator’s Note: south of New Orleans, Louisiana] on 30 March 1922. She moved to New Orleans after high school graduation seeking better work opportunities in the city. She moved in with her sister. She went to work in a telephone and telegraph company there. She heard at work about a school for lady welders and decided to apply [Annotator’s Note: the school was operated by the National Youth Administration Program.]. There were 21 ladies who enrolled in the school and finished with high honors. They were all hired by Delta Shipyard. The ladies practiced welding over a two month period. Delta Shipyard hired all the female trainees who graduated. The Shipyard may have been involved in the commencement of the training program. Aupied remained friends with five of the women who trained with her. Some have passed and one can no longer communicate with Aupied. Delta hired the women in October 1942. There was no bus service to the workplace on the Industrial Canal so the workers had to determine a means of transportation to access work. Aupied rode with others to work. Most of the time, she rode with one particular individual who lived near her. Aupied worked shift work at Delta so that she could be home to receive mail from her boyfriend in the service. During this period, mail would run twice a day. On Sundays, Aupied would get together with others and sit at Lee Circle [Annotator’s Note: a main New Orleans roundabout] and watch military personnel passing nearby. That location is adjacent to the Museum today [Annotator’s Note: The National WWII Museum is within two blocks of Lee Circle in New Orleans.]. Things were much different back in that period.

Mildred Aupied worked in Shop 1 [Annotator’s Note: at Delta Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana]. There were two other shops in the shipyard. Welders like Aupied had to pull their own welding cable and obtain their own rods unlike shipyards like Avondale [Annotator’s Note: Avondale Shipyards, Incorporated was a major shipbuilding company near New Orleans] where helpers assisted the welders with some of their duties. Aupied was certified in overhead and other types of welding but not pipe welding. She was never taught that skill although she practiced on welding pipe. Many people worked in Shop 1. There were welders, pipefitters, the individuals who worked on laying the flat steel, and other people. To Aupied, the girls seemed to work harder than the men because they were anxious to get their boyfriends back from the war. The harder and faster they worked, the faster their boyfriends would return to them. Aupied stopped working at Delta when her boyfriend returned from overseas. Shortly after she quit the shipyard, Delta sent a letter to her requesting that she reconsider and return to her former workplace. The job that she had been working on was not finished and the yard sought her help in completing the ship. Aupied had not told any other interviewer about that letter. She did not go back to work there because she and her new husband moved to Virginia for his discharge. It would be six years before she went back to work. Aupied went to work after her father died and her mother and sister had no income. She went to work to help them out. Aupied’s sister who she moved in with in New Orleans did the same thing. Aupied left the shipyard when she got married. The work in Delta’s Shop 1 was very orderly. One of Aupied’s friends worked in the shop with her. After Aupied was married, she moved to the West Bank [Annotator’s Note: the populated area on the side of the Mississippi River opposite from the location of the city of New Orleans is referred to as the West Bank. The New Orleans side is termed the East Bank of the River by regional inhabitants.]. One of the male workers who also was in Shop 1 with her told Aupied’s husband that she was a good girl compared with some of the other females in the shop. She was glad that she had been a good girl [Annotator’s Note: Aupied chuckles about the incident.]. The combination of men and women working side by side in the shop never seemed to cause any problems. She enjoyed working. The usual outfit worn to work was work pants of khaki or blue jeans plus a heavy shirt for the welding. They had to have steel toe shoes. The clothing was purchased by the individual worker. She was injured once when hot steel went into her boot and burned her. Although she was afraid of water, she managed to work on ships over the river. She was making good money and thought nothing of the danger. She also did it to bring her husband home. Her spouse would die young. She made one dollar and 25 cents per hour as a welder. When her husband returned with her after being discharged in Virginia, his old company, Celotex [Annotator’s Note: an insulation company on the West Bank] gave him his old job back as had been promised before he left for service. The pay for him was only 66 cents per hour. Many men from Celotex had gone into the service, and they got their jobs back after the war. Many women also worked at Celotex. Aupied had a lot of fun working at the shipyard. The girls would go to Lee Circle [Annotator’s Note: Lee Circle is a major roundabout in New Orleans.] during their free time and talk to military personnel passing nearby. They worked hard but had a good time. The men did not seem to work as hard as the women. Aupied’s shift was eight hours. It was necessary to find someone to ride with to work. The workers had a lunch break. Rest breaks were allowed but most work was flat work meaning that they had to work on the steel below their physical position. The steel was not flat. There were structures every two feet that had to be welded. Each one would be welded in turn and the next one taken on afterward. The weather was cold at times, and the steel was cold as a result. Aupied would work in the shipyard and then as the ship progressed, she would go onboard the ship to weld. She would work on a ship from beginning to end. It is difficult to remember all the details.

Mildred Aupied enjoyed working in the shipyard [Annotator’s Note: she was a welder at the Delta Shipbuilding Corporation in New Orleans during the Second World War.]. Her family approved of her work because of the income she brought in to support their needs. After her father died, her mother was left alone to provide for Aupied’s younger sister. Aupied felt she had to help out in providing for them during the war. She did a lot of things she never thought she would do with her different job. She liked the job at Delta as much as any other she held. The quality of a woman’s smooth weld contrasted to the bumpier weld laid down by a man [Annotator’s Note: some welds show ripples as the weld rod is melted into the receiving steel. A smooth weld shows a steadier hand laying down the weld bead.]. She has heard compliments for women welders from workers at Avondale [Annotator’s Note: Avondale Shipyards, Incorporated was a major shipbuilding company near New Orleans]. There were inspectors who reviewed the quality of the work performed by Aupied. One of the inspectors that worked with Aupied was from Mississippi. He is pictured next to her in a group photograph that Aupied has. Although she cannot remember his first name, the man’s surname was Lott. If the weld did not show good quality, it had to be reworked. The welders did not like the idea of having to re-weld an area because of poor performance. The welders did a very good job. Aupied knew of no one who was fired for poor performance. The shop [Annotator’s Note: Aupied worked in Shop 1 at Delta. There were two other main shops in the yard.] received a production award. The individual workers did not receive the award in the photograph. Instead, the honor was given to the group of workers in the shop. Aupied attended some of the ship launches at Delta. She always wanted to ride a ship down, but she quit working there before that could happen. She worked on a ship named for a man who had died. His son was at Aupied’s 90th birthday party. They came in from Chicago for her celebration. The ship was named the James Eagan Layne [Annotator’s Note: the Liberty ship SS James Eagan Layne was launched and completed in December 1944. It would be torpedoed and sunk off the coast of England in March 1945. The wreck has subsequently become a popular diving location.]. She saw that launch and that of another two ships. The launch ceremony was a big event for the yard. They mostly occurred on weekends. Only a few workers were allowed to ride the ship down when it was side launched [Annotator’s Note: ships were either side or end launched or floated out of a flooded dry-dock after the hull was substantially completed.]. Delta Shipyard was a good employer. The workers were treated equally no matter which gender they were. It was a fair working environment. The women did the work and expected fair treatment. Aupied did know any individuals working in the other factories in New Orleans. Those workplaces likely had women working for them. Before she was hired as a welder, Aupied had to pass a welding test. Everything she knew about welding was brand new. Not only the work but the shipyard workplace was all new to her, also. She never heard of any problems related to race relations at Delta. She personally saw no black workers in her shop. The pay for the workers was the same no matter which gender. Other shipyards likely paid the same rates. Men and women were paid equally. She managed to save a little of her money despite the fact that the family had nothing. When her future husband returned from the war, he had 500 dollars; while she had saved 2500 dollars. Her fiancée thought her job was great. When he sent something to Aupied while he was away, her sister would reply to him with a poem. She was talented at that. Aupied stopped working at Delta after her boyfriend returned but before they were married. Some women chose to remain at work at Delta after the war. Aupied received a letter from the shipyard requesting that she return to work. She never heard of any other worker receiving a similar letter. Although she typically does not save artifacts of her past, she saved that letter. It was unique so she kept it. Museums sometimes find value in artifacts that an individual might not think is worth keeping.

Mildred Aupied worked on three Liberty ships at Delta [Annotator’s Note: she was a welder at the Delta Shipbuilding Corporation in New Orleans during the Second World War.] in the three years she was there. She never heard of any accidents at the yard. She had hot metal burn her foot when it fell in her boot. She could not get her high tops off fast enough before the expended weld rod burned her. She had cast off the finished rod after making a weld. It had inadvertently found its way into her boot. That burn on her foot was her only injury. There were a lot of eyes that were burned in the yard [Annotator’s Note: an exposure injury to the eyes can result when the eyes are not protected from welding that is going in the near proximity.]. Welders carried a lot of equipment with them. Today, at Avondale, there are welder helpers [Annotator’s Note: Avondale Shipyards, Incorporated was a major shipbuilding company near New Orleans]. The welder used a stationary machine that they set for their welding position. A weld cable would be stretched to the worksite from the machine. The rods to be burned would also be brought to the location to be welded. The workers brought their own lunches and found a shady spot in the shop to eat. A whistle sounded the times for work start, for lunch and for quitting time. There was a shop foreman to organize the work and the workers. Some of the people working at Delta moved over to Avondale when Delta closed down. Footage was used to judge welder performance [Annotator’s Note: the extent of weld metal laid down was measured by footage]. Workers would receive praise on occasion. She felt that working at the shipyard helped the war effort even though it was a small contribution. Someone had to do the work so she jumped in as a welder. She was determined to pass the test to become a welder. She enjoyed being a welder. She tried to weld pipe even though she was not taught those methods specifically. Unlike welding on steel, it was difficult not to burn through pipe while welding it. Aupied was determined to do her best at the job. People encouraged her to pursue her craft. Her mother was glad that she could hold the job of welder and earn the income to help them. She was at the shipyard when the war ended. When she heard that her boyfriend was returning, she quit the shipyard. He returned home on a furlough but had to return to Virginia for discharge. Before going to Virginia, the couple was married. They went to Virginia and stayed there for three months before he was discharged. That was a good holiday. They were across the river from Washington, D.C. There were celebrations that broke out in New Orleans when the war ended. There was no television so the message was broadcasted over the radio. It was a fine thing. It looked like the war would never end.

Mildred Aupied was influenced by her work at the shipyard [Annotator’s Note: she was a welder at the Delta Shipbuilding Corporation in New Orleans during the Second World War.]. Many of the memories have been lost over the decades since the experiences occurred. It was a meaningful time for her and she was glad she did it. It is surprising that no one came to her for input in earlier years. She identifies with Rosie the Riveter even though she was a welder. She could have taken classes to be a riveter but she chose welding. She would not suggest that trade to others because she felt the job hurt her eyes [Annotator’s Note: an exposure injury to the eyes can result when the eyes are not protected from welding that is going on in the near proximity.]. Her eyes would be burned in the shipyard even though she had eye protection. When she removed her goggles and put a new rod in her welding rod holder, she inadvertently scratched the steel with it. That momentary flash would burn her eyes. She knew she was doing something different with her work in the shipyard. She always wanted to do something that was beneficial. [Annotator’s Note: the interviewer discusses the origin of how Aupied was selected for interview.]. Aupied was a manager at a department store when she heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were upset when they heard the news over the radio. They realized that the boys had to go to fight. Aupied never heard about the Delta ships after they left the shipyard. She heard some talk about the vessels built by Higgins and how some broke up. She does have a piece of a ship that was torpedoed off the coast of England [Annotator’s Note: that ship was the Liberty ship SS James Eagan Layne which was launched and completed by Delta in December 1944. Aupied worked on that ship. It would be torpedoed and sunk off the coast of England in March 1945. The wreck has subsequently become a popular diving location.]. The ship was sailed toward the shore before it sunk. The ship’s crew survived the sinking. Aupied found out about the ship sinking when she was interviewed by a female in preparation for a commemoration of its loss [Annotator’s Note: a ceremony was held in March 2015 marking the 70th anniversary of the loss.]. Aupied was in the Army during the war. He worked on the road in China and India that was known as the Lido Road. She followed the war by hearing radio broadcasts. She lost two brother-in-laws during the war. Aupied feels that she helped women progress by taking on something new at the time. Her message to future young women would be to follow their minds. When she heard about the welding school, she knew that she wanted to do that. She succeeded in doing so.