Factory worker. His experiences as a civilian defense worker at Philadelphia Gear Works, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during World War II. Growing up in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania; effect of the Great Depression on family life; attendance at Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, Media, Pennsylvania for training as a patternmaker; employment at Philadelphia Gear Works as a layout man and machinist; conversion from peacetime to wartime production during World War II; election as vice-president of the International Association of Machinists; union-management relationships during World War II at Philadelphia Gear Works; employment of women; overhaul of the USS Washington; return to Wrightsville to work at Riverside Foundry in 1945; production of hand grenades and rifle grenades; management-union relationships at Riverside Foundry; conversion to civilian product manufacturing at war’s end.