Doris Shea Strand was born and raised in Minneapolis. She was employed in the accounting department at Minneapolis Moline when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and watched as the plant quickly changed over to war production. She also witnessed the influx of women in the company's workforce as male employees left for the service.
Doris participated in rationing and bond drives, and volunteered at the YMCA with the Girls Service Organization to help entertain servicemen. She did "an awful lot of letter writing to the service people," and met her first husband, Errol Fox, by mail.
Following her husband to California in 1944, Doris took a job in the inventory audit department at Convair, manufacturer of military planes.
By the end of the war, Doris had returned to Minneapolis. She joyfully joined in the V-J Day celebrations as she anticipated the return of her husband, and a return to a normal life.
Creator: Thomas Saylor
Publisher: Thomas Saylor; Minnesota Historical Society Oral History Collection
Date: 1944
