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The first women recruited by the U.S. Army were equipped with helmets and gasmasks just like their male counterparts, but they were armed with telephones. Some 223 French-speaking American women served as switchboard operators during World War I. Nicknamed the “Hello Girls,” they acted as a link between the front line and the rear guard and between French and American units.
The armed forces needed switchboard operators in the field for connecting calls. But General Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, refused to employ French people. Very few of them spoke English, and connecting a call took almost a whole minute compared with 12 second for an experienced American operator.
More than 7,600 women volunteered. Candidates had to be between 23 and 33, be “perfectly fit,” and “perfectly bilingual.” French tests were also obligatory, and operators had to simultaneously interpret a fictional conversation between an American officer and his French counterpart. But the Army was not ready to welcome women into its ranks. Certain members of the Department of War believed enrolling female soldiers was contrary to nature. As a result, the operators were housed away from the military bases and obliged to buy their own uniforms.
The Hello Girls were posted to Paris, at the headquarters of the American forces in Chaumont, or on the front. With the arrival of “experienced personnel,” the number of calls connected every day went from 13,000 in Jan. 1918 to 36,000 in July of the same year.
The operators proved their skills at the Battle of Cantigny from May 28 to 31, 1918, which was the first American offensive in Europe. This was followed by the Battle of Château-Thierry, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918. The operators monitored the progress of the fighting, working in 12-hour shifts on the switchboard.
Also the news that the war had ended arrived via telephone: Austria surrendered on Oct 28, followed by Germany on Nov 11. The fighting was over but the Hello Girls remained in Europe, helping in the effort to repatriate U.S. soldiers and occupy Germany, and to organize the Paris Peace Conference.
The last operators left France in Jan 1920.
But the operators learned the U.S. Army was refusing to pay them the pensions they deserved, judging that the Hello Girls served as civilian employees and therefore did not qualify for veteran status.
The Hello Girls were finally granted veteran status in 1978. Only 31 operators were still alive at the time.
Merle Egan (down pic), originally from Montana, received her official discharge certificate at the age of 91. Speaking to the journalists who attended the ceremony, she simply said “The army has finally admitted we are legitimate.”
The armed forces needed switchboard operators in the field for connecting calls. But General Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, refused to employ French people. Very few of them spoke English, and connecting a call took almost a whole minute compared with 12 second for an experienced American operator.
More than 7,600 women volunteered. Candidates had to be between 23 and 33, be “perfectly fit,” and “perfectly bilingual.” French tests were also obligatory, and operators had to simultaneously interpret a fictional conversation between an American officer and his French counterpart. But the Army was not ready to welcome women into its ranks. Certain members of the Department of War believed enrolling female soldiers was contrary to nature. As a result, the operators were housed away from the military bases and obliged to buy their own uniforms.
The Hello Girls were posted to Paris, at the headquarters of the American forces in Chaumont, or on the front. With the arrival of “experienced personnel,” the number of calls connected every day went from 13,000 in Jan. 1918 to 36,000 in July of the same year.
The operators proved their skills at the Battle of Cantigny from May 28 to 31, 1918, which was the first American offensive in Europe. This was followed by the Battle of Château-Thierry, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918. The operators monitored the progress of the fighting, working in 12-hour shifts on the switchboard.
Also the news that the war had ended arrived via telephone: Austria surrendered on Oct 28, followed by Germany on Nov 11. The fighting was over but the Hello Girls remained in Europe, helping in the effort to repatriate U.S. soldiers and occupy Germany, and to organize the Paris Peace Conference.
The last operators left France in Jan 1920.
But the operators learned the U.S. Army was refusing to pay them the pensions they deserved, judging that the Hello Girls served as civilian employees and therefore did not qualify for veteran status.
The Hello Girls were finally granted veteran status in 1978. Only 31 operators were still alive at the time.
Merle Egan (down pic), originally from Montana, received her official discharge certificate at the age of 91. Speaking to the journalists who attended the ceremony, she simply said “The army has finally admitted we are legitimate.”
A summary from france-amerique.com
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