"Hello Girls" are overdue to receive the Congressional Gold Medal

Once again this weekend I will portray Oleda Joure Christides, who was a member of the U.S.Army Signal Corps, commonly known as the "Hello Girls."  I believe strongly their long overdue recognition with a Congressional Gold Medal is needed.  It took them 60 years finally to receive their Veterans Status recognition by the Army.  (Oleda was among the few still alive to receive it.)

That is not the only overdue recognition to these telephone operators of World War I.  In 2009, the WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal. This is the highest medal bestowed by civilians in the United States.  This past year the women working within the United States for World War II, the"Rosies", received the Congressional Gold Medal. Today, the United States World War I Commission is working to honor the Hello Girls with the same award, and we need YOUR help to bring them the recognition they deserve!  

I have reproduced here a flier I will have at my program.  Please read it.  At the bottom I add the information for you to contact your Representative  at https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/honor/valor-medals-image/hello-girls.html

Hello Girls Congressional Medal Legislation Gaining Big Momentum in Senate and House

Great news from the campaign of the World War I Centennial Commission and other organizations, as well as many individuals like you, to encourage the 118th Congress to pass legislation honoring the World War I "Hello Girls" U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators, America's First Women Soldiers, with a Congressional Gold Medal. As of the publication of the WWI newsletter, the Senate measure, has gathered 65 of the 67 cosponsors it needs to be brought to a vote and passed in the Senate. H.R.1572, the House measure, has 152 cosponsors, some 70% of the votes needed to pass in the House.This outstanding progress has happened due to all the many organizations and people who have reached out to Senators and Representatives and asked them to cosponsor this important legislation. If you are one of those people, thank you! If you haven't joined the campaign yet, now is a great time to answer the call, and help get this legislation across the finish line. The Hello Girls made a huge difference in the outcome of WWI. The ability of the bilingual female operators to pass critical tactical information calmly and seamlessly between two allied armies that spoke different languages was a fundamental breakthrough in tactical communications on the Western Front. The service of the Hello Girls helped bring the fighting to an end in the Allies’ favor as much as a year earlier than it might have taken without them, according to General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. When their nation called in 1918, the Hello Girls answered – will YOU answer their call for recognition in 2024?

https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/honor/valor-medals-image/hello-girls.html

That's where my flier ends.  The link also lets you find your representative.  The website also gives the following advice:

You can read the legislation submitted in the House (H.R.1572 - To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps, known as the "Hello Girls".)

• On your Representative's web site, navigate to the "Contact form.
• Fill out the Representative's contact form, then copy and paste the state-specific message in the tab into the "Message" field of the form.
• We encourage you to customize your note before sending!  Make it a personal message from you.
• Check "yes, I'd like a response" from your Representative.
• Click "Send"!
• If you receive a reply from your Representative, or would otherwise like to contact our team with information, please forward any and all correspondence to hellogirls@worldwar1centennial.org.

 

The Hello Girls deserve a Congressional Gold Medal

LoiS at Iosco County Historical Museum

I don't normally completely publish an entire article from another source, but today's article from the February WWI  Dispatch not only focuses on the Hello Girls, but what we can do for recognition of their service in World War I.  The Doughboy Foundation spotlights that "War to end all wars", which is too easily forgotten after World War II.  They rightly say it was "The War That Changed the World."  

Starting this month I return to telling the story of Oleda Joure Christides from Marysville, Michigan.  Her family graciously helped me as I put together her story and those of the other bi-lingual phone operators who were America's first women soldiers.  Michigan also had one of two "Hello Girl" deaths.  It took slightly over 60 years for them finally to gain their veterans status as the Army tried to claim they were contractors.

Their descendants are rightfully calling for a Congressional Gold Medal for these brave women.  The article below from the February WW1 Dispatch gives much more detailed information below.  

Other information in the newsletter includes the death of  Dennis Skupinski, the Michigan State Commission Chair WWI and amateur historian.

Dennis helped me personally as one of his many ways as Commission Chair (and as dedicated "amateur historian") he was recognized as "ceaselessly promoting the Michigan and Michiganders contributions to the Great War."  I am honored to continue the focus on this work that meant so much to him and Oleda.

 Before I give the Dispatch article, I also want to recommend a well-researched work of fiction about the first "Switchboard Soldiers", including Grace Banker, their Chief Operator.  Her diary was one of many sources New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini used in creating her well-written novel, Switchboard Soldiers.  My view of Hello Girl preparation and life is from the sixth of seven units sent abroad.  Chiaverini's book looks instead to the start of their work and, by including Banker as one of her three characters, the very top organizational view.  These women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps "broke down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory."

Now my call to action:

Women’s History Month: Ideal Time To Ask Your Senators and Representative To Support Congressional Gold Medal For The Hello Girls

Women's History Month starts on Friday, March 1, a month dedicated to "commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history." This makes it the ideal time for all Americans to reach out to their two Senators and Representative to request their immediate support for current legislation in each House to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators of World War I, known as the "Hello Girls." America's First Women Soldiers earned this honor through their outstanding service in World War I

The Hello Girls will be at the top of the agenda on Sunday, March 3 at the Military Women’s Memorial in Arlington, VA, as they kick off “March With Me” – a celebration of Women’s History Month at the only memorial to tell the stories of all women who have served our nation. The award-winning  Hello Girls documentary will be screened in the memorial's Vaught Center at 1:00 pm Sunday (get there early!). Filmmaker James Theres will be on hand to discuss the movie after the showing, and to talk about the essential role that the Hello Girls played in bringing the fighting to a close in World War I.. Joining him will be several descendants and family members of Hello Girls, who will share their knowledge and memories of their family heroines, and take questions from the audience. If you are anywhere in the National Capital Region, request your tickets now to attend this event, which also features “Honoring Her Voice,” a special musical performance by The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” chamber players, and an Open House at the Memorial..

Four of the descendants and family members of Hello Girls have joined forces to pen an eloquent editorial about why America's First Women Soldiers deserve the recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal. The short answer is that it's "A distinction they have earned," but the four authors go into excellent detail on how the "adventurous, even intrepid pioneers of their time" answered their nation's call in 1918.The women of the Hello Girls risked their lives in service, and two died in France. Click here to read the entire editorial, which is seeking placement in publications across the nation to support the Congressional Gold Medal legislation. 

You can join these family members in advocating for passage of the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in 2024, and do it right from your computer! Click here for our toolbox that makes the process of reaching out to your Representative and Senators very straightforward. You can also reach out by phone to the local and district offices of your Senators and Representative, and tell them that you want them to answer the call, and cosponsor the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal legislation in the 118th Congress.

The Hello Girls made critical battlefield tactical communications work effectively for U.S. and French military forces on the front lines of World War I, saving the lives of many American by helping bring the long war to a quicker end. However, when the Hello Girls returned home after WWI ended, they were denied veterans status and benefits until 1977. The Hello Girls earned and deserve the recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal, and the World War I Centennial Commission asks you to helpmake that happen in the 118th Congress!

When their nation called in 1918, the Hello Girls answered -- will YOU answer their call for recognition in 2024?

Love, the "War to End All Wars", and a century later

Painting of Oleda in Chaumont by her daughter, Michelle Christides

A week from today I will once again present the story of Oleda Joure Christides, a World War I "Hello Girl."  It will be at 11 a.m. at the Carnegie Branch of the Jackson District Library.  The last time I was able to do this program was in November of 2019 before the pandemic.  In preparing, I was feeling far removed from the story of this woman, a story developed from various sources including her two daughters.  One of the daughters, Helen, has since died and I miss her so much.  I had hoped to contact some of the family last November when Oleda was inducted into the Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor.  Unfortunately I was too sick that week to attend.  Oleda's other daughter, Michelle, was also unable to attend, but sent a prerecorded video.  Michelle has done much to share the story of her mother and these brave women who went "Over There" and then spent 60 years fighting for their promised veteran's status.  The Doughboy Foundation long ago published her article, "The History of a Hello Girl."

That same Doughboy Foundation publishes a newsletter, which this month includes a Valentine's Day story about another aspect of the experience of these Signal Corps bilingual telephone operators. . . finding love.  It's a reprint of the California American Legion's story, "A Love. A War. A Citizen" and that, too, was something Oleda observed among many of her fellow Hello Girls.  I recommend  "A Love. A War. A Citizen" highly and found it helpful in getting me back into the world of Oleda and her colleagues.  There were 6 Hello Girls from Michigan, including Norma Finch Carman, who was from Hillsdale County, but worked in Detroit for the Michigan State Telephone Company.  She returned to her job, but in less than a year married Ellis Joel Carman at the Episcopal rectory in Hillsdale.  Joel had been a captain in the American Expeditionary Force in France.  In my program I mention another, Melina Adam, who was repeatedly reassigned because she fell in love with Signal Corps soldier, Jack Converse.  They didn't wait to come home and were married in Paris shortly after the Armistice.  The California American Legion story does an excellent job of showing the world of the AEF and these brave women.

I don't portray famous people of the past, preferring to present "History as seen by the 'average' person."  As the Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor shows, that can include important history too easily overlooked.  (The history of the Hello Girls was pushed aside for 60 years, but I'm pleased to play my part in keeping it alive.)

Oleda and the Michigan Military & Veterans Hall of Honor

This past Friday was Veterans Day, a day to honor the bravest of our citizens: the many people who have served in the military to defend our freedom. Veterans Day honors all military members, regardless of the war or conflict, or if they survived or perished.  The coming Friday a special Michigan event will occur.

The Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Honor creates a Hall of Honor for Michigan citizens who have distinguished themselves through military service and/or public service as a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States. 

The "Hall of Honor" is currently only online, with an annual Hall of Honor Day celebrating the newest additions and learning more about why they were chosen.  This year Oleda Joure Christides, a World War I "Hello Girl" from Marine City, will be honored. 

Online, beyond their website, the Hall of Honor also has a Facebook page, where they have been posting about this year's ten inductees.  This is what they posted about Oleda:

Oleda was born in 1897, in Marine City, and served as a telephone operator in the U.S. Signal Corps' famed "Telephone Girls" Brigade in World War I.

When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Commander General John Pershing recognized that expert telephone communications and technology support between command units and the front lines would be crucial to victory.

Upon demobilization in 1919, Joure-Christides returned to Marine City and resumed her civilian career as a telephone operator, married, and raised a family. Despite assurances to the contrary, the Army issued Telephone Girls Brigade "Service Termination Letters" instead of a military discharge, denying them veteran status and any benefits. After decades of fighting; in 1978, Joure-Christides was awarded her full official discharge at home with her husband, Chris, by her side.

Oleda passed away in Marine City in 1984.

Hear her incredible story and many others at the #MMVHOH Military & Veterans 2022 Hall of Honor Inductee Ceremony on Friday, Nov. 18th at 12:30 PM!

Event information: https://bit.ly/3sQZ9pj

This will be another opportunity for me to meet with many of Oleda's family.  Whenever my historical programs are about a real individual, I try to work with their family.  Sadly Oleda's daughter, Helen, who was a great help, has passed away, but I hear her son will be there.  I also worked a bit with Oleda's other daughter, Michelle, who has done a great deal to spread the word about these Signal Corps Operators, both their work in World War I as the first female combatants and their 60 year battle that finally succeeded in recognition by the army.  Oleda was fortunate enough to be among the 50 operators still living who finally received their veterans status and honorable discharge in 1978.  

Oleda with Brigadier-General Arthur Wolfe

Oleda died in 1984.  The brief summary of their work and eventual recognition is at Wikipedia. 

As I understand it, Michelle will be unable to attend the Hall of Honor ceremony, but has prepared a brief video for the occasion.

The Hall of Honor's purpose is twofold, both to honor and to educate.  Those education goals are:

To educate Michigan citizens, and particularly young people, about the military and civic service of state veterans in order to inspire a sense of pride, patriotism, and civic virtue.

To promote through scholarships, grants, and other means, the research and teaching of Michigan’s military heritage and the importance of military service to citizenship throughout the state.

Sometimes storytelling offers an opportunity to touch history and the people who lived it.

 

 

For Veterans Day and Beyond, More about World War I

This coming November 11 is Veterans Day. Historically and in some parts of the world it is called Armistice Day or Remembrance Day.  When you say something is at "the eleventh hour" it refers to the ending of World War I on the eleventh month at the eleventh day at the eleventh hour the war's end was signed.  While the war clearly was not "the war to end all wars", this day honors all who have served in the military.

I do a program on a Michigan woman, Oleda Joure Christides, who was in the last team of the bilingual phone operators, commonly called "Hello Girls", for WWI.  Because some men were "buried at sea" due to what was commonly called the Spanish Influenza on her trip to work at Pershing's headquarters, I did a lot of research also on the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918.  Even with all my research, Victoria Thompson in her book, City of Scoundrels, did indeed give a few "I didn't know that" moments. She graciously gave me permission to share her comments at the end of the book which are relevant to both World War I and the Influenza epidemic.  

 

I'm hoping to bring the program about Oleda Joure Christides, http://www.lois-sez.com/historical-programs.html, back during Women's History Month. In November Oleda will be honored on November 18 in Lansing by the Michigan Military and Veterans Hall of Fame.  It's by invitation only and I look forward to meeting additional members of Oleda's family.  It's great to have her service honored.

I also very much appreciate Victoria Thompson's permission to reprint her Author's Note in City of Scoundrels. Not only do I want to give full credit to her and would send you to her website at http://www.victoriathompson.com/, but definitely have enjoyed her Counterfeit Lady series, about a woman raised to be a con woman.  This is a fairly new series of, so far, five books, including the first book, City of Lies, where "Counterfeit Lady",Elizabeth, takes shelter hiding with Suffragists in jail.  When Thompson mentions President Wilson "was notoriously thin-skinned and could not tolerate any criticism" I think about this photo after the War's end when women in the U.S. asked for the same rights granted Germans.

Even before the Counterfeit Lady series my husband and I are longtime fans of Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries set in New York city at the Turn of the 20th Century.  There are 24 so far and all are titled "Murder on (or in) ... " giving the name of a New York street or neighborhood.  I recommend them highly. They move you like a time machine into a well-researched bit of the past.  Added to those settings there are characters who always make you want to see what happens next.  I could say even more, but think it's time to let you discover them for yourself.  May Ms.Thompson keep on writing!

In the meantime, when you see veterans offering poppies for donations, think of all the poppies "In Flanders Fields."

 

The 19th Amendment

Today, April 27, I'm once again telling the story of World War I's "Hello Girls" as if I was Marine City's Oleda Joure Christides.  The story is as much a story of women's history as it is that of World War I because it took 60 years for those women to finally gain their veteran's status promised to them when they initially took their oaths as soldiers.

When the Victory Parade was held in New York, the Navy recognized its Yeomanettes and let them march, but the Army refused, claiming the bilingual telephone operators were "contract employees", thus lacking veteran's status.  The Army insisted only males had been in the Army.

Part of the delay in recognition, beyond the Army's refusal to recognize the women after the war ended, included the many things taking priority in the United States.  Returning soldiers also sought their promised compensation which led to Bonus Marches or the Bonus Army during the Great Depression.

Why does this involve the League of Women Voters?

One of those matters, definitely a major issue in women's history, was giving women the vote.  This was more than just an issue in the United States.  Wikipedia's article on Women's Suffrage shows the changes internationally.  I was stunned when only recently I learned about Great Britain, "From 1918–1928, women could vote at 30 with property qualifications or as graduates of UK universities, while men could vote at 21 with no qualification. From 1928 women had equal suffrage with men."  In both the U.S. and around the world the movement, which had been growing since the 19th century, was strengthened by the role women took in World War I.

I'm particularly fond of the historic photo addressed to President Woodrow Wilson as "Kaiser Wilson" talking about how his post-war concerns for Germany's self-government (which did give all Germans the vote in 1918) ignored the twenty million women in the U.S. without the vote.

I have two books of newspaper front pages showing major events.  Neither Great Pages of Michigan History from the Detroit Free Press nor The New York Times Page One; Major Events 1900-1998 as Presented in The New York Times show the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.  Somehow a constitutional amendment would seem like front page news.  Certainly the eighteenth amendment banning alcohol and the later 21st amendment repealing it received plenty of attention. 

On a personal level, many years ago I remember an elderly woman telling of the disparaging looks and comments made when, as a young woman, she proudly marched up to vote when it first became possible. 

Fortunately local newspapers recorded when Brigadier General Arthur Wolfe was finally sent to Marine City in 1978 to present Oleda with her long-promised official honorable discharge papers and Victory Medal.  At the time she was one of only 15 alive who served abroad.

It may not have made front page news, but like the 19th amendment, we need to recognize these important events in women's history and the contribution of women who went before us. 

11th Day of the 11th Month at the 11th Hour

How appropriate it is this week I again get to bring to life the story of World War I's the "Hello Girls" and this area's Oleda Joure Christides.  This Sunday, here in the United States November 11 is Veterans Day and throughout the British Commonwealth it's Remembrance Day.  Oleda's daughter, Helen, will be at Chaumont, General Pershing's headquarters in France, where her mother served.  France is one of many locations where it's called Armistice Day or, just informally, Poppy Day.

This picture is from an Australian article about their memorial, with the poppies scattered to replicate how they grow and the soldiers fell.

62,000 handmade poppies, 1 for every Australian life lost in World War I

Not far from here in Guelph, Ontario, I've had the privilege of joining with their storytelling group many years ago for Remembrance Day.  Back then I didn't realize the poet who wrote "In Flanders Fields", talking about the poppies and the dead, was Canadian physician, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, who was born in Guelph and only a little later died and was buried in France.

from the John McCrae memorial in Guelph (By Lx 121 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=845579)

Those poppies grew on the old battlefields and new cemeteries because the ground was so disturbed and the lime content of the fields made it one of the few plants to grow. There's a British site about the war, which is still referred to as The Great War.  The site has a page specifically about the poppy and Remembrance Day.

Aside from doing a program this past week, I began thinking about it when I saw this on the page of a friend and former co-worker's Facebook page.

I knew about the origin of the saying "the eleventh hour", but I'd never heard about the positioning of the flower and it sent me looking further.  I still didn't find the origin of the Facebook article, but a site called That's Nonsense.com, which claims to explore internet nonsense, did an article on it.  By and large they didn't really debunk it.  I liked their concluding its symbolism is up to you as long as you are respectful and they turned to the Royal British Legion's conclusion:

There is no right or wrong way to wear a poppy. It is a matter of personal choice whether an individual chooses to wear a poppy and also how they choose to wear it…The best way wear a poppy, is to wear it with pride

I love the section in my program when I tell how it was called out "La guerre ç'est finie!"  Of course the negotiations were just the beginning as Oleda saw both the final year of getting the soldiers home and the 60 year fight of the Hello Girls to gain veterans recognition.  She was one of the few to make it all the way through that part of Women's History. The decisions made in those negotiations, unfortunately, are usually pointed to causing World War II. 

As of this point I am booked to bring the program through March of 2019, but hope to continue to keep the story alive beyond 2019 as it is indeed Women's History, military history, and an important stage in world history.

"La guerre ç'est finie!" - Armistice Day and Veterans Day

On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour the cry Oleda and other "Hello Girls" and our soldiers in 1917 heard: La guerre ç'est finie!

Here in the Detroit metro area it took a day to appear on the front page.  I'm going to give it in two sizes to help show both the headlines and a bit of the front page articles.  My apologies for the imperfections of bringing this hundred year old front page to you, but think you will appreciate not only the war articles, but a few other bits that made it onto the front page.

and then these two halves of the front page:

Here is a photo of the "Hello Girls" switchboard in Paris at the peace talks.

Oleda was 150 miles away at the headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force, where General Pershing preferred the U.S. military to be based "Over There."

While any war ended is to be celebrated and the Veterans certainly should be remembered as we do every November 11, unfortunately we know it was naive to say it was the "War to end all wars."  Pray for our military and our veterans living with the aftereffects of their service.

"World War I and America" series

Today I'm speaking just to people able to attend events in the metro Detroit area BUT before you stop reading, since this is about a program that is grant funded, if you would like to bring my storytelling program your way, it may help to know my storytelling is recognized as grant worthy and is also part of the Michigan Humanities Council's Arts and Humanities Touring Directory.  The 2017 Arts and Humanities Touring Directory Grants are closed, but plan now for grants for 2018.  I value creative thinking and will work with you on funding your program, whether by a grant from the Humanities Council or elsewhere, or a sponsorship, or another way to bring storytelling to your audiences.
 
Storytelling can be included as part of a series offering varied approaches.  Telling about the U.S. World War I Centennial my Hello Girls program has sometimes been scheduled in mixed company.  I don't usually list my programs here, but because it gives an opportunity to discover such a rich assortment of experience by the various leaders, if you can join this series, I hope you will.  For readers able to go, here is further information.  To register, click on the underlined hotlinks given below.  The Orion Township Public Library location and contact information is given at the end.

The Orion Township Public Library has received a World War I and America grant, which marks the 100th anniversary of the nation’s entry into the war in 1917.  World War I and America’s principal objective is to bring veterans and their families together with the general public to explore the American experience of war and its role in shaping the contemporary world by reading, discussing, and sharing insights into the writings of Americans who experienced it firsthand.
To that end, we hope you can attend any or all of the following programs:

World War I and America Book Discussion Series

Wednesdays, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM for Students, Adults, and
Senior Citizens

Join Oakland University's Dr. Karen Miller as she moderates a series of three discussions of readings drawn from the book World War I and America: Told by the Americans Who Lived It. In compiling World War I and America, distinguished scholars were invited to write brief essays related to World War I. The writers - soldiers, airmen, nurses, diplomats, statesmen, political activists, journalists — provide unique insight into how Americans perceived the war and how the conflict transformed American life. This evening the readings and discussion will follow the following themes:

• Why Fight? October 11
• The Experience of War October 18
• Race and World War I  October 25

Register for the whole series or any of the evenings online, and stop by the library to pick up the readings being discussed so that you can read them ahead of time. Discussions will also include other forms of media related to each evening's themes. 

Monday Evening Book Discussion

Monday, October 16,  7:00 PM to 8:30 PM for Adults

Discuss Ernest Hemingway's classic A Farewell to Arms

Copies are available now at the Adult Reference desk.

The rest of the series:

World War I “Hello Girl”, Oleda Joure Christides

Wednesday, November 1 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM for All Ages

World War I was won not only on the battlefield, but also at the phone switchboard. Join local storyteller Lois Keel as she shares the story of how bilingual operators helped General Pershing in France. Oleda was a Michigan teenager, a weekend musician, and a telephone supervisor who saw it all, including a 60 year battle to win veteran’s status.

 PTSD: a discussion for veterans and their families

Tuesday, November 14 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM for All Ages

Dr. Eric BeShears, clinical psychologist, with the John D. Dingell, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, will speak on the topic of PTSD and Moral Injury. The program is especially geared towards veterans and their family members, or anyone whose lives PTSD had affected. Topics discussed will include what PTSD is, what it looks like to loved ones, the toll it takes on family members, and what happens if PTSD is not treated. Also discussed will be the relatively new issue that is being addressed in the mental health field, Moral Injury. Dr. BeShears welcomes questions throughout his discussion, and the program can become as interactive as the audience prefers.

The Makings of Americans: A WWI Home Front Story

Saturday, November 18 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM for All Ages

Historian Dennis Skupinski will present an interactive program about WWI and Michigan. Michigan's work force included many European workers who were affected when Michigan's industry was needed for the war effort. How did these workers react to war on their former countries? George Creel and the Committee on Public Information who promoted Nationalism, combating dissent and creating a patriotic "Home Front", will also be discussed. Veterans of any war and their families are invited attend and will have the opportunity to share their stories and/or reactions to the topics discussed.

 

This series is part of World War I and America, a two-year national initiative of The Library of America presented in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the National World War I Museum and Memorial, and other organizations, with generous support from The National Endowment for the Humanities.

825 Joslyn Road, Lake Orion, MI  48362

For more information contact reference@orionlibrary.org or call 248-693-3001.

Hello Girls - WWI/ Women's History, part 4

The story of the "Hello Girls" truly is Women's History.  There are two ways it qualifies: it is the story of women moving into new areas of involvement, including warfare; but it also involves a 60 year-long battle to finally gain veteran's status and, even then, not conferring it upon the majority who had died.

Lois as Oleda at the "Doughboy" statue, Bay City

 My own reenactments as Oleda Joure Christides have shown the spotlight primarily on Michigan's telephone operators.  Here I've shared the story from this region, which included the Chicago district.  The women were all young and on an international adventure they normally would never have expected.  Because the reactions from the Chicago operators are clearly common to "Hello Girls" I want to be sure and give it, too.

While I have limited ways to change the reproduction here of the articles from Bell Telephone News, today's articles all are from Volume 9 and each of the items given this month from the corporate periodical are free e-books from Google Books.  I heartily recommend their volumes for a look back into how the business world viewed women differently.  Articles about administrators and also the men who became soldiers are very different.  Social news related to women today would be considered slanted toward trivial matters.  Additional articles are about fashion, even including some patterns, and homemaking topics.  There's the section titled "Of Interest to Our Girls" -- yes, today we would say "Women", but beyond that the tone and topics reflect another era, although articles, among the many "Conducted by Mrs. F.E. Dewhurst", about the returning operators show a glimpse into their world and include reactions you might expect from young soldiers of either gender.  Beyond that, I found interesting September of 1919 has an article glimpsing the changing world of the 20th Century, "Labor Must Turn Deaf Ear to Bolsheviki, I.W.W. and Socialist Cure-Alls."

 

Notice that headline to an article below my second article about influenza and both articles also mention illness or quarantine.  Spanish Influenza was a two-year worldwide pandemic stretching from 1918 to 1920 killing the unlikely population of those same young adults in the war, unlike the usual mortality among more vulnerable age groups.  Of course, while the disease wasn't just on the battlefield, wartime conditions were perfect for spreading the disease.

Hello Girls - WWI/ Women's History, part 3

So much appears in Bell Telephone News volume 9 that it needs more than one article.  It opens with this cover showing both the "Hello Girls" and a male soldier for the August 1919 number

That's issue Number 1.  By the appearance of this issue Victory did indeed crown the American Expeditionary Forces and the Bell Telephone News was filled with news of returns from "Over There."

While the A.E.F. officially was established July 5, 1917, and last week's "Storytelling + Research" showed the first 33 of the "Hello Girls" arriving in Paris in March of 1918, the Timeline of World War I shows how quickly their entry made a difference.  While their motto of "War to end all wars" wasn't fulfilled, World War I was certainly stalemated until the A.E.F. arrived.  General Pershing kept them separate and refused to let the U.S. simply fill gaps in the allied armies.  As a result the cry of "La guerre est finie!" ("The war is over!") erupted on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. 

Oleda Joure Christides, whom I portray in telling about the "Hello Girls", was in the final unit sent to France.  She was barely 20 years old and so she was among the few, 50, still alive when in 1977 Congress recognized their service as true members of the U.S. Army.  There were even fewer by the time the army sent the official recognition of an honorable discharge and long overdue Victory Medal.  Those who died before receiving it were not given even that. 

Here's what appeared in the next issue of Bell Telephone News about Oleda and her friend and supervisor, Louise Gordon.

Bell Telephone News, Volume 9, Number 2, November 1919

Maj. Gen. Squier

They were close enough that when a fellow operator had to accompany Oleda on leave visiting her brother, Wallace, Louise was chosen.  It also mentions returning with another Michigander and head of the Signal Corps, Major General George Owen Squier.  His engineering and inventions included multiplexing, which he invented in 1910 and gave American communications an advantage over the Germans lacking it.


One "Hello Girl" who did not return, Cora Bartlett, was the subject of an earlier article here on July 11, 2015.   I strongly recommend clicking that hotlink.  Because the photos there were removed (I believe by the Hillsdale Historical Society, to whom I gave information about her) this photo combines two segments of "In the Camera's Eye" that formed the center of each issue.  Cora's portrait spanned both pages and doesn't align completely.

Portrait in Bell Telephone News, Volume 9, Number 3; Funeral Volume 9, Number 5

Hillsdale County area provided three operators, Ms. Gordon from Litchfield, who worked in Detroit, Cora Bartlett, and Norma Finch, who fell in love with and soon married Captain Ellis Joel Carman shortly after her return. 

Bell Telephone News, Volume 9, Number 7, page 6 - February 1920

Later in that same issue on page 11 it's interesting to read of the need for new employees.

Bell Telephone News, Vol. 9, No. 7, p. 11 (February 1920)

Prowling old issues of Bell Telephone News isn't always easy.  Information sometimes appears in small bits of chatter with little chronological timing.  On page 6 of Volume 9, Number 5, (December 1919)  this comment was placed under the Jackson District. 
   "Hillsdale is not Paris, but Miss Norma Z. Finch and Miss Elizabeth Shovar are quite content at the former exchange and have no desire to return to the French metropolis.

   "When the call came from the Signal Corps for operators, Miss Finch of Hillsdale and Miss Shovar of Detroit responded.  They became 'buddies' in France.  They were 'buddies' through the grueling days of the last advance on Paris when they knew that in case of evacuation, the Signal Corps would be among the last to leave.  During the long months after the armistice the exchanges were still operated in Paris.  Thousands had returned home and the operators wanted to go home, but they stayed until the A. E. F. was sufficiently demobilized to discontinue the service.

   "Miss Finch and Miss Shovar are glad to be home.  They appreciate everything about the town as nobody can who has not had their experience."

Here's an earlier article from the previous month in November 1919 about the return of Ms. Finch and Ms Shovar with two other Detroit operators.

Bell Telephone News Vol. 9, No. 4 (November 1919)

Those same operators and Ms. Gordon joined with Oleda Joure to meet in a stateside memorial service for Cora Bartlett after her burial was in France. 

These articles were part of the return to the United States, but the war had changed the world and more would be needed than just "Girls -- a lot of 'em."