H.R.1572 – To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps, known as the “Hello Girls” has raced past the 290 cosponsors needed to get a vote in the House of Representatives. Thank You! to everyone of you who
Made The Call to your Member of Congress and asked them to cosponsor this legislation.  As of this writing the measure has 296 cosponsors, which is great news! But there is more that needs to happen before this bill joins its companion that has already passed the Senate and becomes law. 

Congress returns on November 12, and there will be a lot going on during this “lame duck” session taking place after a November election and before the beginning of the new Congress. There will be mandatory legislation to pass to fund the government, and many, many other distractions. But let’s not let them miss this call!  You can help in two ways.

First, check if your Representative has already become a cosponsor of  H.R. 1572, the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal bill.  If they are not, request that they become a cosponsor now. We’re past the vital 290 threshold, but more cosponsors is always better. Use our online toolkit to check whether your Representative has answered the call. The toolkit has links to all Congressional Offices in all states; you can look up their phone number and call, or send them an email message. Either way, make your request to your Representative now!.

Second, call the Washington, D.C. offices of the Speaker of the House (202-225-4000), and the House Majority Leader (202-225-0197), or email them via the websites linked above. Ask them to Answer the Call, and bring H.R. 1572 to a vote  as soon as Congress is back in session on November 12. The Hello Girls waited almost 60 years for America to recognize their service as America’s First Women Soldiers in WWI. The brave Hello Girls earned and deserve the recognition of a Congressional Gold Medal, When their nation called in 1917, the Hello Girls answered!  Please tell Congress to answer their call for recognition in 2024!

Educators will get a close look at The Doughboy Foundation’s award-winning WWI Teaching Resources, featuring the WWI Memorial Apps, during the 104^th  Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, November 22-24, 2024 at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston, MA. The annual NCSS Conference is a gathering of thousands of social studies educators, administrators, and professionals from across the country to inspire the best practices in the social studies profession. Learn more about the WWI Teaching Resources, and how teachers all across the nation are using them to tell America’s consequential story in WWI to a next generation of learners.

If you have not yet seen The Hello Girls documentary, here is a great opportunity: The Foundation for Women Warriors (FWW) will sponsor an online screening of The Hello Girls on Wednesday, Nov. 6, from 4:00pm-6:00pm PT, in honor of Veterans Day. This documentary features rare 100-year old film footage of America’s first female soldiers courtesy of the National Archives and never-before-seen photos from family archives. The Nov. 6 special online screening requires advance registration. Learn more about the FWW, and find out how to reserve your slot to watch this outstanding documentary.

September 15, 2024 brought bright sunshine, blue skies, and warm temperatures to Chevières, France as over 400 people gathered for the reburial of an American First World War ace. Captain Hamilton Coolidge was killed in action on Oct. 27, 1918 just a few weeks after his 23rd birthday. His burial small parcel of land on the site where he fell was the beginning of a century-long relationship between the Coolidge family and the village of Chevières. Learn how the course of nature over 100 years forced a relocation of his resting place, and how the family, the village, and the U.S. Air Force worked together to provide a final resting place where the aviator can continue to be watched over in “enduring gratitude.”

The recently opened National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, VA is an award-winning facility with the theme “Soldiers Stories,” highlighting the experiences of the men and women who have served since 1775. Along the walkway from the parking lot is a wall filled with unit tributes to active and historic military units, paid for by private fundraising. The newest effort to highlight the service of Army women is dedicated to the “Hello Girls”, formally the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit, who served in World War I. Learn more about the proposed unit plaque, and how you can participate in installing this tribute to the first all-female unit in the US Army and the first to directly contribute to combat operations.

Irving Hermanson was born to Swedish immigrant parents in New York City in 1895, but spent a large chunk of his young life in his ancestral Sweden before, very ironically, returning to the U.S. in 1914 for fear that Sweden would be dragged into the conflict that became known later as World War I. In cooperation with Joacim Hallberg, proprietor of the Swedes in the Great War website. Irving’s great nephew Olof Svanberg tells the whole story of Irving’s brief but eventful life, how he answered America’s call to serve in the war that ultimately claimed him, and how he came to rest in peace finally back in Sweden for at last.

In 1918, Wisconsinites who were critical of the US’s involvement in the First World War, or were thought to be, became victims of targeted violence, harassment, and intimidation by the state’s hyper-patriots. This group of diehard government supporters took it upon themselves to enforce President Woodrow Wilson’s goals during World War I through vigilantism and violence. Read more about this episode, and learn how, though these events were completely antagonistic to the American freedoms that the hyper-patriots thought they were protecting, in a way those freedoms were eventually strengthened through responses to hyper-patriotic vigilantism. 

The first U.S. Air Service aerial victories by fighter planes in the American sector in France were by Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell, two pilots of the 94th Aero Squadron, which had just been transferred to the front. On Sunday morning, 14 April 1918, they were on “alert” at Gengoult Aerodrome near Toul, France. German planes were reported in the area and the two U.S. pilots, completely inexperienced in aerial combat, took off in their Nieuport 28s. Almost immediately they saw two German aircraft and attacked them directly over the flying field at less than 1,000 feet altitude, in full view of not only the Americans at Gengoult Aerodrome, but also the French citizens of Toul. Read the whole story, and learn how the novice aviators Winslow and Campbell shot down two German airplanes and were back on the ground in a matter of minutes.

World War I had a profound impact on the global stage and the development of Washington, DC. Before the war, the city was a growing but relatively modest government hub. However, as war demands increased, so did the city’s importance. The Federal government expanded rapidly, military installations were established, and Washington became a focal point for international diplomacy. The influence of World War I on Washington, DC, can still be seen today, from its infrastructure to its cultural significance. Explore how the war shaped the city’s political, social, and cultural landscape, leaving a lasting legacy that continues to influence its role as the nation’s capital.

A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Our Doughboy MIA this month is Private Fred Eugene Turner, born on March 3, 1893, in Hephzibah, Georgia. He completed his education at the local high school and was an active member of the Hephzibah Methodist Church. In 1910, his family relocated to Tampa, Florida. The Turner family was known to be quiet, and Private Turner remained relatively unknown around town. In April 1917, he told his mother that he believed the United States would soon be at war with Germany and expressed his eagerness to serve. On March 27, 1918, Private Turner enlisted in the U.S. Army in Tampa, and just ten days later, the U.S. officially declared war on Germany.

Private Turner underwent basic training at Fort Screven and was assigned to Company “E’” of the 28th Infantry Regiment,  1^st Division. He later trained at Fort Ringgold before departing for France from Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 11, 1917. In his final letter to his mother, Private Turner wrote that he expected to return home soon and enclosed a few faded flowers from the fields of France as a Mother’s Day gift.

In the early hours of May 27, 1918, the 3rd platoon of Company “E,” 28th Infantry, moved into frontline trenches near Cantigny. Just after 5 a.m., a heavy German bombardment struck the Allied lines. It was during this bombardment that Private Turner was killed.

Read Private Turner’s whole story.

Would you like to be involved with solving the case of PVT Fred Eugene Turner, and all the other Americans still in MIA status from World War I? You can! Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to our non-profit organization today, and help us bring them home! Help us do the best job possible and give today, with our thanks.  Remember: A man is only missing if he is forgotten.

Poppy Hat

• The front features our beautifully embroidered poppy design
• Classic white relaxed golf cap
• Low profile six panel unstructured
• Standard pre-curved visor
• Washed chino twill
• Fabric strap with antique brass sliding buckle
• Doughboy Foundation logo embroidered on side

Doughboy Hat

• The front features our beautifully embroidered Doughboy Foundation insignia
• Classic navy relaxed golf cap
• Low profile six panel unstructured
• Standard pre-curved visor
• Washed chino twill
• Fabric strap with antique brass sliding buckle

This and many other items are available as Official Merchandise of the Doughboy Foundation.

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