Dorothy "Dot" Phillips worked at Pratt and Whitney in Connecticut prior to World War II.

She worked with Heald internal grinder, grinding engine parts for airplane engines. She would check her work with a fitting to make sure that she ground the parts to exactly the right size. The inspector's "helped". She says that they were like the Gestapo.

When the war started, she was moved by an appeal by President Roosevelt, stricken by polio, from his wheel chair, asking for help. What would you do, she asks?

What she did was to join the US Marines. As a Corporal, she taught the Marines and the locals at the North Carolina base how to disassemble engines for such planes as the B-17 for maintenance.

She was greatful to Uncle Sam for the benefit that she received after coming to the U.S. from the old country, Yugoslavia. She's proud of the fact that she never took welfare and wiorked her whole life.