Lindenhurst resident Josephine Rachiele featured in World War II documentary

Josephine Rachiele, a Lindenhurst resident, is featured in a two-part documentary, which will air Wednesday, Sept. 20 and Thursday, Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. on WLIW21. The series is presented in collaboration with Thirteen/ WNET on the New York War Stories Multimedia Event and and features tristate residents' experiences during World War II.

Nearly 1 million New Yorkers fought in World War II. Millions more joined the war effort on the home front. The WLIW and WNET documentary provides a personal perspective of the war not found in most history books or Hollywood movies, said the producers.

Rachiele, an Italian-American, talks about her de- cision to contribute to the war effort by becoming a riveter at Republic Aviation in Farmingdale. Republic

was one of the nation's largest manufacturers of wartime aircraft, producing thousands of p-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes. Thousands of women took part in this effort, working a 60-hour week as they learned to operate drill presses and riveting guns. Rachiele worked alongside two of her sisters; the three of them were dubbed The

Home Front Sisters in the company's newspaper. She shares her recollections of the exhausting hours she spent on the factory floor and the neighborhood boys who were killed in the war, as well as the day Tommy Dorsey came to Republic to give a morale-boosting concert for the defense workers.

In photos, Josephine Rachiele is shown today and when she worked at Republic Aviation during World War II.

In addition,

PBS debuts its epic mini-series, film Sunday, Sept. 23.

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