Dolores McInnis Libby was born in Buckatunna, Mississippi in May 1926. Her father was a disabled veteran of World War 1. He was on a troop train going to the port of New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] when the train crashed, and his left wrist was nearly severed. They traveled quite a bit, often to Memphis [Annotator's Note: Memphis, Tennessee] and New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana], though they were very poor. They settled in New Orleans in 1937. At that time, Libby read about Amelia Earhart [Annotator's Note: Amelia Earhart; American aviation pioneer] and her story. The 10-year-old Libby admired her for her determination. She attended McDonogh 15 public school in the French Quarter [Annotator's Note: a neighborhood in New Orleans]. She was shy and quiet. Her family lived near the French Market, where they would buy fresh vegetables. There was a grocery on nearly every corner, each one including a meat section and a bar connected to the grocery. In her free time, she liked to read and roller skate in Jackson Square. They learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] when they returned from a trip to visit relatives. Her school was all girls, 175 girls in the senior class. They marched in a parade as a "living flag" down Canal Street. She sometimes took the streetcar around the city for just seven cents. Another time they performed at the football field in City Park [Annotator's Note: Tad Gormley Stadium]. They collected books to send to servicemen. Only one of her classmates was interested in joining the military, the WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve]. Many wanted to marry. There was a judge known as "the marrying judge", people would show up, ring his doorbell, and the judge would marry them. Libby met her future husband when she was 15, they married at 17. He was in the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] which disbanded in 1942. Most of them enlisted, but her husband was 4F [Annotator's Note: Selective Service classification for individuals who are not fit for service in the Armed Forces] because he had flat feet, but two years later it did not matter, and he was sworn in as a Marine.

Dolores McInnis Libby applied to work [Annotator's Note: at Consolidated Aircraft Corporation] because she had a friend who worked there. She was put in a class and taught how to rivet. She had to go see a nurse for a TB [Annotator's Note: tuberculosis, a bacterial disease of the lungs] chest x-ray, and was also given a blood test to verify if she was black or white, because they would not hire a black person. The company had a Navy contract. In the early 30s, when Japan started overtaking countries, the Navy worried about its dominance at sea. The PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft] was used as a flying boat, search and rescue, and submarine chaser. They added a wheel to the flying boat. Libby did not know this at the time. All she knew was where to go, when to go, and when to leave. They were told to be as exact as they could. They were instructed by a female on how to use a rivet gun, an electric drill, and a bucking bar. They were tested at the end of their classes, and the instructor held up Libby's riveting example and a rivet fell out. She was embarrassed and had dreams of rivets falling from the sky. If that had happened on a plane, or any kind of damage to the aluminum they were using, it could cause a plane crash. It made her very aware of the importance of the work, and to be very careful. She worked eight hours a day. Overtime was possible if they were behind, but they were never behind in their work.

Dolores McInnis Libby [Annotator's Note:a riveter for Consolidated Aircraft Corporation] worked on the PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft] flying boat. The company had an order for 900 planes, but this was cut back to 175 after the invasion of 1944 [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and she lost her job. So many planes were coming back that they stopped making the PBY. There were about 4,000 altogether. There were six versions of the PBY, including two amphibian models. They were made in England, Russia, and Canada as well. A neighbor of hers was a seaman, and his ship was torpedoed in the Gulf of Mexico, which she did not realize was so close. One of her classmates from grammar school was killed. Her uncle, a first-generation American whose parents had emigrated from Germany, was on an aircraft carrier. His ship was out to sea when Pearl Harbor was bombed [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was then sent to Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Pensacola, Florida], Libby suspects so that they could keep an eye on him. When Libby went back home, they had blackouts. Her husband left Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in San Diego County, California] in January [Annotator's Note: January 1945]. When she began hearing about Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February-26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan], she thought he might be there as she did not know for sure where he was. Eventually, Libby received a letter from him from Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands]. She later went through his photos and threw away the horrible ones of dead Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese].

Dolores McInnis Libby [Annotator's Note: a riveter at Consolidated Aircraft Corporation] worked on Franklin Avenue. Nearby was a German POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] camp, but Libby was not aware of it at the time. The 1950s were a disappointment after the war and boring in comparison. She and her husband bought a house in Algiers [Annotator's Note: a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana] and had two children. One of their neighbors was a German woman who had been a POW and later married a G.I. [Annotator's Note: government issue; also a slang term for an American soldier]. Another neighbor was also a Marine who had served in the Pacific. She and many others were afraid of the enemy coming into the United States. Submarine lights were seen off the coast of Miami [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida]. In 1967, when Libby was 40 years old, she enlisted in college and got her degree in five and a half years. She had four children and one grandchild at the time. She attended Holy Cross College in Algiers. She got involved with schools and church and began teaching. She taught at private schools first, and then went to public schools where she won Teacher of the Year in 1997. She taught until she was 71. She had several difficult years from 1990 to 1999, losing several family members and experiencing other difficulties. The rationing during the war was not so difficult for her since she grew up during the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] and did not have much. People used to think that women were not able to do the jobs that men could do. They were not paid the same amount as the men.

Dolores McInnis Libby began as a volunteer at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] in 2003. One of her grandsons was a student at UNO [Annotator's Note: University of New Orleans] where one of his professors was Günter Bischof [Annotator's Note: Austrian American historian]. She visited the Marine Corps Museum in San Diego [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Museum in San Diego, California] and was very moved. Volunteering made her feel like she had something to do. She was unable to be part of a speaker's bureau because she was not considered a veteran, though she saw herself as one. The Home Front was an important factor in winning the war. It is important to recognize people's sacrifice. They did not have all that we have today. It was a time when people were united.

Dolores McInnis Libby would tell future generations to always defend and love America and its freedom, and to trust in God and our lawmakers. She went back to McDonogh 15 [Annotator's Note: school in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana]. While volunteering at the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] she met a visitor from Australia and told him that she had worked on the PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft]. There were different versions and names for the PBY depending on the manufacturer. When she gives speeches, she talks about all of the ways women were involved in addition to as riveters, such as the WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] and WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve].