Beulah/Buella Dugas (Laviolette), Jason Theriot, Hewitt Theriot, Dugas’ grandson:

-Had to stop going to school to work to help support the family; was sewing uniforms at the factory in St. Martinville
-Then word got out that welders were needed so Dugas volunteered; trained in Lafayette at a school and stayed there for 6 weeks
-Had 2 brothers in the war and a few other relatives
-After training was sent to New Orleans and stayed with an aunt and an uncle
-Worked at the Delta Shipyards and her sister worked at Higgins so they got a place together; Dugas was 18 at the time
-Made the big ships, Liberty ships and stayed in New Orleans for 2 years

-Started off at tacking and then went to welding straight lines
-Worked at that for about 6 months before being allowed to work overhead and the bottom decks
-Paid .75 cents an hour and by the time she left she was getting $2.25 an hour, top pay for a qualified welder
-Worked 8 hours a day from 3 pm to 12 am; they had three shifts working 24 hours a day
-Built the ships like in an assembly line that it would get closer to the water (typically 3 weeks for 1 ship)

-Worked there for 2 years
-Took a bus and then walked to the shipyard
-Was scared of the Navy boys when she got off at midnight while walking back
-Wore trousers and something on her head, always had to be covered
-Just knew that they were making ships and slept most of the day so didn’t keep up with the news

-Left New Orleans and the shipyard in 1944 to get married (21 years old); her husband was not in the service as he had to stay behind to work on the family farm
-Her husband wanted to join up but his younger brother beat him to it and someone had to stay behind
-Dugas went to work for the war for her parents to help to support them and pride for her country

(26:00)
-Only spoke French when visiting home or at her aunt and uncle’s but hardly ever at all
-When finished with the ships they’d “champagne it” and send it off
-Wore a badge in order to get into the shipyard

(25:53) Taking pictures
-Outlining what Theriot plans to do with her story
-Comparing the home front and the service
-Looking at photos
-Talking about the lack of knowledge of WWII veterans’’ stories
-Theriot’s work and upcoming book

Transcription Begins:

Beulah Laviolette Dugas
2406 Coteau Holmes Rd.
St. Martinville, LA 70582
Rosie the Riveter
Delta Ship Yards, New Orleans
Interview conducted by Jason P. Theriot

We had eleven children in my family and some of my brothers and relatives were fighting the war overseas. So it was a time when our family was very close.

I tried to make a little money for my family because we were so poor. I started off sewing uniforms for the soldiers at the factory in St. Martinville. They came and said that they needed welders in the shipyards. So I volunteered. I went and trained for six weeks at a welding school in Lafayette.

I was eighteen when I went to work for Delta shipyards in New Orleans in 1942. My sister was up the river working at Higgins and we had a little place together. There were people working at both places who were from all over; most of them were from Louisiana.

[Annette Dugas (Beulah’s sister) worked at Higgins Ship yard for two years. She was employed as a machinist, but later move up to shipping and receiving. She didn’t see her husband, Nolan Dugas, for three and a half years during the war.]

I welded on the big Liberty ships. We were there in the deep water of the Industrial canal. I started off tacking because they wanted to see how much I had learned at school. Then I had to weld a straight line. Gradually they moved me up. It was about six months before I could weld overhead and on the bottom decks. There were men welders, too. But the men and the women were the same; we did the same work. I wore trousers, and gloves, and something to protect my head. And we had to wear our badge to get into the shipyard.

When I started I was making seventy-five cents an hour. By the time I left, I was making $2.25 an hour—that was top pay for a qualified welder. I worked eight hours a day. At Delta there were three shifts working twenty-four hours a day. It was like an assembly line. We were building one ship every three weeks. We had a big ceremony to launch each new ship.

We took the bus to work every afternoon. I got off of my shift at midnight. But I was afraid of all the Navy boys. I was from the country and had never been to a big city before, so for me I was a little scared about that.

I worked at Delta for two years. There were a lot of people working there and at Higgins. Those ships we were building were important for the war.

I left Delta in 1944 to come home and get married. My husband was the youngest boy on the farm, so he had to stay behind.

Everybody contributed to that war. But we were very poor, and working at the shipyards helped out our parents. I sent most of my paychecks home, but I kept a little war bond and bought a baby bed for my first child with that.