Along the Western Front: Cycling, History, and the Hello Girls

In November 2025, I was approached by Linda Jantzen about joining her for an e-bike tour along the Western Front Way through France and Belgium. It would be a supported tour; our bags would be picked up each morning and delivered to a new hotel each day. My husband, Dusty, and I jumped at the opportunity. Also joining the tour would be Julia Donnelly, recently retired Colonel from the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

I am a cycling enthusiast. Reflecting back on a cross-country bike trip I took 35 years ago, I remember that there were no cell phones, GPS, e-bikes, or sag wagons to haul our gear. I had to pack light!

As Dusty and I prepared for our Western Front journey, I chuckled as I had to sit on my 42-pound rolling duffle bag to zip it closed. Somewhere along the way, I wondered: Did I really need to pack 12 pairs of socks?

As the granddaughter of a Hello Girl, I have been active with the Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance Project, a program of the Doughboy Foundation. Our mission is to recognize the service of all the Hello Girls and to see that their World War I service is reflected on their grave marker.  As our research team uncovers their stories, we are also locating more Hello Girls descendants.

Our upcoming trip to Belgium offered an especially meaningful opportunity. Our research team identified seven Hello Girls with ties to Belgium, and we knew our trip would pass through the towns that had ties to two of them: Edith Dodson and Melanie Van Gastel.

Two World War I U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators with ties to Belgium: Edith Dodson (left) and Melanie Marie Van Gastel.

Edith Dodson, a Hello Girl of English descent, who was raised in Bruges, Belgium, moved to New York in 1911. She served in the Second Group of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Operators Unit, deployed to France and returned to New York where she lived until her death in 1970.  Last year, through a series of coincidences, her second cousin, Jean Bearda of Australia, discovered Edith’s military service, resulting in Jean connecting with our Hello Girls team. Unbeknownst to Jean, it was discovered that Edith had been buried in an unmarked grave in Queens, New York.

Hello Girl Melanie Van Gastel immigrated to the US from Antwerp, Belgium in 1915. She served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in the Fourth Group.  A few years after the war, she entered the St. Joseph of Carmel convent in St. Louis.  She transferred to the Carmleite Monastery in Aalst, Belgium in 1928 where she lived out her life until her death in 1978, where she was buried in a communal plot for Carmelite nuns in the Aalst Municipal Cemetery.

With these women in mind, our trip became more than a cycling adventure. We were traveling through places where history had unfolded—and where, more than a century later, we hoped to connect these Hello Girls stories with the places they had once called home.

The Journey Begins

Our tour began on August 28. Julia, Linda, Dusty, and I met in Amiens, France, where we met Pablo, our tour coordinator. He set us up with our bikes and reviewed the important information for the two hundred mile ride.

Dusty prepares to carry a forty-pound duffle bag (did someone over-pack?) up a set of narrow hotel stairs.

We checked into our hotel and were directed to our rooms in a hotel annex down a cobblestone street. Our bags went k-thunk, k-thunk, k-thunk as we dragged them over the uneven terrain. We opened the door to the building and discovered a narrow, circular staircase. One step at a time, we lugged our heavy bags to the third floor. Wouldn’t you know we would repeat this routine at the next few lodgings.

As it turned out, each of us had an important role on our tour:

• Julia: navigator, pace setter, and culinary advisor
• Linda: recruiter, World War I historian, and T-shirt designer
• Dusty: e-bike technical and safety specialist
• Me: videographer and Hello Girls ambassador

Dusty was the only one in our group with this particular type of touring e-bike, so he provided helpful tips on how to safely maneuver this heavy bike—and, most importantly, how to not fall off!  We reviewed safety procedures, including the importance of communicating when cars were approaching, using hand signals, and wearing obnoxiously vibrant colors to increase our visibility on the road.

Julia led our group and kept a steady pace, allowing time to stop at the many World War I sites along our eight-day journey. I gratefully followed and enjoyed cycling along bike paths that meandered beside rivers, passed through rolling farmland and along tree lined groves.  We rode along less-traveled roads through charming old towns that had suffered devastation during the Great War and had since been rebuilt.

One of the beautiful country trails the team traversed through France and Belgium.

The weather and terrain were variable. We encountered strong headwinds, steep climbs and rain showers. We kept an eye on our battery usage because the hills and headwinds could quickly deplete our batteries.

The team completes another leg of their e-bike journey Along the Western Way in France and Belgium. (L to R) Dusty, Julia, Linda, Carolyn.

Despite all of that, it was a delight to experience the landscape from a bicycle rather than through the windows of a tour bus. We could hear the sounds of the countryside, smell the fields after the rain, and stop to take in places that might otherwise have passed by unnoticed.

Traveling Through History

Linda, (USA Sig Corps, ret. Col) is a university professor with a passion for teaching World War I history. As we visited memorials, cemeteries, museums, and battlefields throughout France and Belgium, Linda provided context about the battles and events that had taken place there, including the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, and Ypres. (Read Linda’s story of our tour here.)

Seeing these places on a bicycle gave history a different dimension. We weren’t simply reading about battles on a museum display or looking at dates on a map. We were riding through the landscape itself.

Typical for me, I was obsessed with taking photographs and videotaping the journey. Because we had a schedule to keep, I didn’t have the luxury of stopping as frequently as I would have liked. I quickly learned that I could videotape while riding, thereby cutting down on the number of stops.

I realize this was not particularly safe (especially on the cobblestone roads). Next time, I will invest in a GoPro camera!

But of all the experiences on our bike trip, what moved and inspired me most were the personal connections—the unexpected encounters and coincidences involving Hello Girls descendants, office of tourism staff, and even good Samaritans we met along the way.

Remembering Edith Dodson

While in Bruges, I had the great pleasure of meeting Ann Dodson, the great-niece of Hello Girl Edith Dodson, and Ann’s husband, Willy.

At left (l to r): Willy Van Caelenberge, Carolyn Timbie, and Ann Dodson. At right (l to r): Ann Dodson, Willy Van Caelenberge, Linda Jantzen.

We met Ann and Willy for dinner and had such a wonderful visit that they invited us to join them the following morning, accompanied by their son and daughter in law.  They gave us a special tour of Bruges, including a stop to see the home and church where Edith had spent her childhood.

Speaking with Ann while standing in the places where Edith had once lived and worshipped was deeply moving. More than a century had passed since Edith left Belgium for the United States, served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France, and became part of the history we are retracing.

Left (l to r) Willy Van Caelenberge, Linda Jantzen, Carolyn Timbie, Ann Dodson, and Dusty Clampitt during a tour of Bruges, Belgium. Center: Edith Dodson’s church that she attended in Bruges, currently undergoing construction. Right: Tour guide Willy (left) describes the scene in Bruges to Carolyn (right) and others.

Willy was especially taken with the story of the Hello Girls and with Edith’s life and service. His “nephew-in-law,” Axel, subsequently wrote an article about Edith for the National Federation of Belgian Veterans. Reading the article was incredibly meaningful to me. It was another reminder that when we uncover the story of a Hello Girl, we are connecting with her family, her community, and the places that shaped her life.

At long last, Edith Dodson will be honored with a VA grave marker dedication ceremony which is  planned for May, 2027, at Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens, New York with the Belgian Consulate also taking part.

Remembering Melanie Van Gastel

On our last day in Belgium, we took a train to Aalst to visit the grave of Hello Girl Melanie Van Gastel, who is interred at the Aalst Municipal Cemetery.

Before going to the cemetery, we stopped at the tourism office and shared a printed biography of Melanie’s life, thoughtfully written by one of our research team members, Lisa Oberg.

As we explained Melanie’s story to the tourism representative, we watched her expression change. At first, she was simply listening. Then she became visibly excited as she realized the significance of Melanie’s service and her connection to Aalst.

She told us that she would include Melanie’s story in the town’s list of notables.

Left: Melanie Van Gastel on her Golden Jubilee, Sept 27, 1972. (Special thanks to Willy Van Caelenberge for forwarding this photo.) Right: Melanie’s biography, two American flags, and a wooden cross with a poppy left at the base of the grave marker at the site where Melanie is interred at the Aalst Municipal Cemetery.

We continued on and located the unmarked headstone.  We paid our respects.  Linda placed a copy of Melanie’s biography at the base of the headstone, along with two American flags and a wooden cross with a poppy.

More Than a Bike Ride

Looking back, I realize that this journey was about far more than cycling along the Western Front. Yes, there were the miles, the hills, the headwinds, the rain and the occasional struggle to lug around a 42-pound duffle bag.

And, there were the beautiful landscapes, wonderful meals, laughter among friends, and the satisfaction of completing an eight-day cycling adventure. I loved it all!

But, the most important part of the journey, for me, was the Hello Girls connections.

In Bruges, we connected Edith Dodson’s life with her childhood home, her church, and her community where her story began. In Aalst, we brought Melanie Van Gastel’s service to the attention of people who had never known her story. Along the way, we met descendants, tourism representatives, and strangers who became interested in these women once they heard about their extraordinary service in World War l.

In addition to the battlefields, monuments, memorials and museums we visited, I realize that history is about people and making connections—and sometimes it takes a bicycle, a little curiosity, a coincidences, and a willingness to knock on doors to bring these stories to light.

The Hello Girls served their country when the United States needed them, yet for decades their contributions were largely overlooked. Traveling through the places where World War I unfolded while retracing the lives of two of these women made their stories feel remarkably present. For me, this trip was an opportunity not only to ride through history, but to connect the stories of their past with the present.

Seven Hello Girls with Ties to Belgium

Edith Dodson, Bruges

Melanie Marie Van Gastel, buried in Aalst

Madeline Antoinette (Batta) Barlow, Hasselt

Martha M. (Libert) Griffin, Etterbeek

Gabrielle Toby, Brussels

Helene Toby, Brussels

Alberti’s M. Warrants, Brussels