The Shipyard Agent: Augusta Clawson and the Women Welders of World War II

As an undercover investigator, Augusta Clawson was assigned to Portland’s Swan Island Shipyard to join the ranks of female welders in World War II. Meanwhile, she surreptitiously sent reports back to Washington, DC, cataloging her daily observations and offering an unfiltered representation of the difficult, exhausting work these women performed. The full story of her role in establishing improved training and safety guidelines for the women laboring to build America’s ships has not been told-until now.

Beverly Lionberger Hodgins is descended from a family of Oregon pioneers and has a distinct interest in all things regarding the settling, development, and history of the Pacific and Inland Northwest. Her screenplay Wayward Warrior, based on her husband’s Vietnam service, was a semi-finalist for the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards. She once served as a personal interest story reporter for the Washington State Employees’ Intranet. She is the author of Mercy and Madness: Dr. Mary Archard Latham’s Tragic Fall from Female Physician to Felon (TwoDot), the essay ＂A New Dawn＂ published in the anthology Chocolate for a Woman’s Courage, and poems published in college literary reviews. She lives in Spokane, Washington.