PEGASUS BRIDGE, France (NEWSnet/AP) — As the 5,000th B-17 bomber built after Pearl Harbor rolled out of its Boeing factory, teenage riveter Anna Mae Krier made sure it would carry a message from the women of World War II:

She signed her name on it.

Now 98, and in Normandy, France, for this week’s 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Krier continues to promote the story of women who helped the nation prepare for the invasion on June 6, 1944, and stay focused on combat missions throughout the war.

Millions of women took jobs in defense-industry factories during that era, filling in workforce gaps as men volunteered or were called up for combat in the Pacific, Africa and Europe.

The factory women became known collectively as “Rosie the Riveter,” illustrated by a woman in a polka-dotted bandanna flexing her arm in a recruitment poster that declared: “We can do it!”

After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that pitched the United States into war on Dec. 7, 1941, “every man, woman and child just went to work,” Krier recalled Wednesday as she visited the site of an iconic D-Day battle, Pegasus Bridge.

The North Dakota native was 17 when she went to work in 1943 as a riveter on B-17 and B-29 bombers. She helped build more than 6,000 aircraft, according to her biography provided by the Best Defense Foundation, which brought her to Normandy for the anniversary.

“Us women built all that equipment, the airplanes, the tanks, the ammunition” and ships used in the Allied invasion of Normandy that helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny, Krier said.

She added: “We weren’t doing it for honors and awards. We were doing it to save our country. And we ended up helping save the world.”

The women defense workers received little notice or appreciation at first. Krier was among ex-"Rosies” who pushed successfully for their contribution to be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal.

“That made me so proud,” she said. “And I’m just so proud of our young women. We opened doors for the young women today.”

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