Book Review: Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini

Book Description

In June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with troops in the field. Pershing needed telephone operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, speak fluent French and English, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet, since the calls often conveyed classified information.

At the time, nearly all well-trained American telephone operators were women—but women were not permitted to enlist, or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them.

More than 7,600 women responded, including Grace Banker of New Jersey, a switchboard instructor with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College; Marie Miossec, a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer; and Valerie DeSmedt, a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator from Los Angeles, determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium.

They were among the first women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten seconds.

Deployed throughout France, including near the front lines, the operators endured hardships and risked death or injury from gunfire, bombardments, and the Spanish Flu. Not all of them would survive.

The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel…until now.

My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

SWITCHBOARD SOLDIERS by Jennifer Chiaverini is an engaging and informative historical fiction novel featuring the first young women ever to be able to enlist in the US Army’s Signal Corps and serve overseas as switchboard operators during WWI. The story follows three main protagonists from different parts of the country with varying immigrant family stories as they serve in the great war overseas.

As General John Pershing arrives in France to oversee American forces to fight alongside the French and British forces in the “war to end all wars” against the Axis forces, he realizes he needs professional female operators fluent in both French and English to be able to communicate all over the fields of operation. AT&T operators answered the call to serve from all over the country.

Grace Banker is an AT&T switchboard instructor in New Jersey and an alumnus of Barnard College, Marie Miossec is in Cincinnati with her French parents who are professional musicians working in the states, and Valerie DeSmedt an operator in Los Angeles whose family has immigrated from Belgium, are all accepted after an arduous vetting. Deployed to France, they cross the dangerous waters of the Atlantic facing dangerous German U-boats, the bombardments of the enemy forces throughout France as they are assigned to work closely to the frontlines, the danger of mustard gas and the Spanish flu.

These women served throughout France with honor and valor and were essential to the success of the Allied forces.

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