During World War I, military techniques included trench warfare.  In this type of warfare, it was difficult to maintain good communication between the soldiers on the front lines, and the commanders in the rear.  This problem was compounded by the fact that English speaking
American and British soldiers were fighting alongside  French speaking soldiers.  There was a need to improve communications on the western front.

 General Pershing decided he wanted 100 French speaking operators to run switchboards on the battlefields.  He ordered recruitment from  French speaking areas of North America including Louisiana and Canada.  Pershing said woman had the patience and perseverance to do the long, arduous, detailed work.  Men in the Signal Corps had difficulty operating the switchboards.  Besides, Pershing said he wanted the men constantly  stringing wire in the field from the trenches to the  A.E.F  GHQ (American Expeditionary Forces General Headquarters) in Chaumont, France.

Unfortunately, of the 300 applicants, only 6 were qualified for the switchboard jobs.

 An emergency appeal  went out in 1917 to the rest of the United States for specifically female switchboard operators from the newly formed Bell Telephone company for bilingual telephone operators who were fluent in French. 

 This appeal resulted in 7600 applicants, 550 responded and were trained in self defense  at Camp Franklin, MD and were sworn into the U.S Army Signal Corps. for the duration.  Of that number, 150 operators, under the lead of Chief Operator Grace Banker  were sent to the many telephone exchanges of the American Expeditionary Forces in Paris, Chaumont, and  75 other locations in France as well as  locations Great Britain including London, Southampton and Winchester in March of 1918.    Occasionally, operators operated equipment just behind front lines.  They were known as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit.  They were also known colloquially as “Hello Girls”. 

 It was the first time in the history of American warfare soldiers on the frontlines  of battle were connected  to the General command.

 Operators were expected to be at least 25 years old.  Married women were accepted, as long as they were not married to men serving overseas.

 These “Hello Girls” were paid the same salaries as their male counterparts.  Chief Operators were paid $125.00 a month, and regular operators were paid $60.00 a month.  However, from that,  they were expected to buy their own uniform, which ranged in price from $300-$500.

 While the women of the Signal Corps wore U.S. Army uniforms, and were subject to army  regulations, including court martial and 10 rules to assure moral character, they were not given honorable discharges.  They were considered “civilians” employed by the U.S. Army.  They were told they could not have been sworn into the U.S. Army because the Army regulations say “males” are sworn in, not “persons” as it does in the U.S. Navy.  “Yeomanettes” who served in the U.S. Navy during World War I  were considered veterans after the war, not the U.S. Signal Corp women.

 It was not until 1978, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War I, that  Congress approved Veteran Status/Honorable discharges for the remaining "Hello Girls."