These real-life ‘Rosie the Riveters’ just received the top U.S. civilian award [Video]

When Marian Sousa got her first job at the age of 17, not only did she earn some extra cash — she helped change the course of history.

Sousa, 98, is one of more than six million U.S. women who broke traditional gender roles and joined the workforce during the Second World War.

On Wednesday, she was one of 27 of surviving “Rosie the Riveters” — so-called because of the famous recruitment posters of the era — who gathered in the U.S. Capitol to receive a Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the nation’s top civilian award.

“I’m still searching for the perfect word. It’s just so amazing and I’m just so elated that they have finally recognized us, these courageous women that stepped forward,” Sousa told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

‘Double victory’

After Japan bombed the Pearl Harbour naval base in Honolulu in 1941, drawing the U.S. into the war, men of working age were quickly drafted into the …