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While suffragettes picketed the White House and President Woodrow Wilson struggled to persuade a segregationist Congress to give women of all races the vote, these competent and courageous young women swore the Army oath. Elizabeth Cobbs reveals the challenges they faced in a war zone where male soldiers welcomed, resented, wooed, mocked, saluted, and ultimately celebrated them.
The army discharged the last Hello Girls in 1920. When the operators sailed home, the army unexpectedly dismissed them without veterans' benefits. They began a sixty-year battle that a handful of survivors carried to triumph in 1979. With the help of the National Organization for Women, Senator Barry Goldwater, and a crusading Seattle attorney, they triumphed over the U.S. Army.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 27, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781541426078
- File size: 347286 KB
- Duration: 12:03:30
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Narrator Susan Ericksen is the perfect choice for this gem of overlooked history, which tells the story of America's first female soldiers. Known informally as the "hello girls," the 223 women of the United States Signal Corps were the backbone of the nascent telecommunications infrastructure for the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI. Ericksen gives a steady performance, including impeccable French pronunciation, allowing listeners to absorb the balanced blend of military, political, and personal history that squarely places the story of the Signal Corps in a broader social context. Because the narrative draws heavily from personal letters and diaries, Ericksen has ample opportunity to give a voice to a number of women, amplifying their individuality and unique role in American history. A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
February 6, 2017
Cobbs (American Umpire), chair in American history at Texas A&M, examines the Signal Corps’s female telephone operators during WWI in the first full-length scholarly work of its kind. Her fine study enriches our understanding of America’s participation in its first major European war by focusing on important historical actors who are typically sidelined in military accounts. Under Gen. John Pershing’s orders, 223 bilingual female operators—dubbed Hello Girls—were sent to Europe to handle communications among the Allies. Hundreds of women had rushed to apply, eager to demonstrate their patriotism and claim equal citizenship. Cobbs discusses the final phase of the women’s suffrage campaign to highlight the connections between military service and citizenship. This information is sometimes awkwardly inserted, diverting attention from the more compelling story of the Hello Girls’ contributions to the success of the Allied war effort. Grace Banker, a 25-year-old chief operator, efficiently worked the switchboard during the Meuse-Argonne battle. Merle Egan, stationed at Services of Supply headquarters, facilitated communications to guarantee the army received necessary supplies. After the war, the Hello Girls had to fight for formal recognition of their service; the army attempted to classify them as civilian contract employees and deny them veterans’ benefits. Aficionados of WWI history and women’s history will appreciate Cobbs’s book. Illus.
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