Military History, the "Hello Girls"

[Subdeacon Joe]

Something I had never thought about: Switchboard Operators

 

During World War I, some 223 members of the U.S. Army Signal Corps performed a highly specialized service which demanded great skill, nerve and tenacity: Over the vast network of telephone lines that had been hastily constructed across France, these soldiers worked the complicated switchboards connecting the ever-shifting front lines with vital supply depots and military command. At the height of the fighting, they connected over 150,000 calls per day.

 

• They had been specifically recruited for this task. They underwent physical training, they received medical examinations and inoculations, they swore the Army oath, they wore regulation uniforms and "identity discs" (akin to dogtags) to identify their remains. They observed strict military protocol, they were subject to court-martial, and many found themselves stationed a few short miles from the front during the bloodiest days of that very bloody war, at outposts that came under sustained mortar fire. General "Black Jack" Pershing, who had issued the call that caused so many of them to volunteer, singled them out for praise.

They were brave. They were resourceful. But when they returned home, they discovered to their dismay that, according to the United States government at least, there was one thing they most certainly were not: veterans.

They were the "Hello Girls" — a cadre of patriotic women who volunteered when the U.S. Army realized that the war would be won or lost on the Allies' ability to exploit the new technology of telephone communication. In the crisply written The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers, Elizabeth Cobbs details exactly what was asked of these women during the war, and reveals, with an authoritative, dispassionate, this-was-some-self-evident-nonsense lucidity, the dismaying extent to which their country failed them when it was over.

 

 

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

When they returned from service in January 1920,  they were denied Veterans status and benefits as they were told they were not "soldiers".

Wasn't until, with the help of the National Organization for Women, U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater and a Seattle attorney, they won recognition in 1977.

[Sedalia Dave]

[Cat Brules]

It would be interesting to know if and how these women and/or their families we compensated for this gross miscarriage of military and moral judgement.

 

Cat Brules

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

Bill introduced last year https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-cleaver-introduces-bipartisan-bill-to-award-congressional

 

https://www.veterans.senate.gov/newsroom/minority-news/tester-blackburn-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-honor-the-hello-girls

[Sedalia Dave]

Too bad a proper documentary or film isn't available. A musical just doesn't feel like the right venue to chronicle their dedication and sacrifice.

[Trailrider #896]

And the same shame happened to the WWII Women's Air Service Pilots (WASPS), who transferred all sorts of aircraft so male pilots could be freed up for combat and other flying jobs.  A number were killed in aircraft accidents.  This was all, in spite of Jackie Cochran's lobbying to get them recognized as vets.  They were finally awarded veteran's status a few years ago! 

 

Similarly, the Merchant Marine sailors and officers were rejected as veterans, in spite of the fact that many of them were killed or wounded in torpedo attacks by German submarines in WWII.  They have finally been recognized as vets!

 

LONG,   LONG OVERDUE!