America’s First Female Soldiers Getting Deserved Recognition

By Julie Zeilinger
via the Task & Purpose web site

When Grace Banker graduated from Barnard College in 1915, women did not yet have the right vote. But lacking this basic right didn’t stop Banker from serving her country — and breaking barriers in the process.

U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators at switchboard. Left to right: Rose Langelier; Melanie Van Gastel; Louisette Gavid; Marie Lemaire; Eglantine Moussu. Toul, Meurthe et Moselle, France.Just two years later, Banker volunteered for and was chosen to head a team of women assigned to fulfill a crucial communications role alongside American. service members deployed to France as part of World War I.

These women joined 190 others recruited to serve in the U.S. Army Signal Corps by connecting American and French forces via newly-available phone lines after military officials discovered that male infantrymen were struggling to connect these calls quickly enough.

The bilingual team of women served on the front lines of battle, connecting 26 million calls for the American Expeditionary Forces in France. They served at military headquarters and outposts in the field alongside the American Expeditionary Forces in France, connecting the front lines with supply depots and military commands. They became known as the ‘Hello Girls”

Yet despite this service — and despite taking a military oath —the Hello Girls were denied veteran status and benefits when they returned home.

After petitioning Congress more than 50 times for recognition, lawmakers in 1977 finally relented and passed legislation to retroactively acknowledge the military service of the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. And on July 3 of this year, Sens. Jon Tester, Democrat from Montana, and Dean Heller, Republican from Nevada, introduced the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act, which will award the Hello Girls with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors. On Tuesday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin co-sponsored the legislation as well.

“The Hello Girls stepped up to the plate and got the job done, and they played an important role in our nation’s history,” Heller said at the time. “They pioneered the way for female veterans, and like all of our nation’s service members – they should be recognized for their bravery and contributions,”

Read the entire article on the Task & Purpose web site here:

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