Josephine Rachiele of W. Babylon: WWII 'Rosie the Riveter' at Republic Aviation
Josephine Rachiele, one of the "Homefront Sisters," worked as a riviter during WWII at Republic Aviation making P-47 aircrafts for the war effort in Europe.
Josephine Rachiele loved when people at air shows would ask her for her autograph and to take a photograph with her — many of them had never before met a World War II “Rosie the Riveter.”
Rachielle and two of her sisters had worked at Long Island’s Republic Aviation during the war. Josephine built P-47 war planes, Theresa Hagemeyer was an executive secretary and Sarah D’Onofrio sharpened drills. The plant newsletter did a story on them at the time, dubbing them the “Homefront Sisters.”
Rachiele was a resident of the Smithtown Center for Nursing and Rehab at the time of her death on April 18 at age 96; the family says they believe she had COVID-19. Her sister Theresa, 98, also a resident at the facility, died April 20 and had tested positive, says Michelle Wojnarowski of East Islip, a great-niece of the sisters. The third sister, Sarah, died in 2000.
A early circa 1940ss portrait shows the "Homefront Sisters" Sarah D'Onofrio, Josephine Rachiele and Theresa Hagemeyer, when all three worked for Republic Aviation. Josephine worked as a riviter during WWII at Republic making P-47 aircraft for the war effor in Europe. Credit: Family Photo
'I wanted to do something for my country," Rachiele told Newsday in 1998 of her decision to give up her job in a coat factory and work at Republic in 1943. "Some of the boys where I worked were drafted, and I decided I had to help." Rachiele became one of the legions of women nationwide dubbed Rosie the Riveter because it was her job to use a rivet gun to shoot rivets through holes marked on airplane parts.
Rachiele was in the 1998 Newsday history project called “Long Island: Our Story.” She’s also featured in a display at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale, was honored in a 2018 ceremony there and had worked as a volunteer at the museum.
Rachiele worked at Republic for more than 40 years, retiring in 1986. "We proved we could do the job as well as men — maybe better," she told Newsday. Rachiele had also served as vice president of the local P-47 Alumni Association and treasurer of the Long Island-Republic Aviation Historical Society.
Josephine Rachiele, of West Babylon, sits in front of the historical marker which was unveiled on state-owned land near the Airport Plaza shopping center on Conklin Street, in East Farmingdale, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Credit: Steve Pfost
For Rachiele, aviation became a passion. Her former West Babylon apartment was filled with models and photographs of planes, and even a salt and pepper shaker set shaped like airplanes. Her car’s license plate proclaimed ILUVP47S.
Rachiele was divorced and did not have children; her sister Theresa also had no children and her husband preceded her in death, Wojnarowski says.
“She was very much one of a kind, very strong-minded,” Wojnarowski says of Rachiele. “We were saying that she’s flying to Heaven on a P-47.”
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
