Sonoma’s ‘Hello Girl’ finally gets her recognition

Ceremony at her grave site honors Juliette Courtial Smith’s service during World War I.

“She can keep a secret.” With that headline on the front page of the Los Angeles Examiner on Sept. 27, 1919, welcomed home a war heroine, Juliette Courtial, who had served in World War I with the Hello Girls, a detachment of all-woman telephone switchboard operators attached to General Pershing in France.

Almost 100 years later, on Friday morning, Aug. 23, approximately 150 civilians and members of the military gathered at the St. Francis Solano Catholic Cemetery in Sonoma to remember and honor Juliette Louise Courtial Smith at her grave site.

She moved to Sonoma, where she lived for 19 years before her death. She was buried without a headstone in the St. Francis Solano Catholic Cemetery. Through the efforts of Maeve Smith, director of Sonoma Live Arts Theatre Company, and Lillian Meyers, a local Sonoma businesswoman and community leader, she was finally getting a headstone, one that honors her service to her country.

Courtial Smith was among the 7,000 women who responded to General Pershing’s call for a small unit of women to serve as telephone switchboard operators and real-time translators to join his campaign in France.

Maeve Smith, director of Sonoma Arts Live Theatre Company, speaks to the some 150 attendees about the ‘Hello Girls’ and their work during WWI at the St. Francis Solano Catholic Cemetery in Sonoma, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Robbi Pengelly / Index-Tribune)

Pershing recognized that maintaining contact with Army commanders scattered across France would be a major challenge if the campaign was to be successful. Female telephone switchboard operators were acknowledged by their employers as being much faster than their male counterparts. Applicants who were French speakers, such as Courtial Smith were especially valuable.

In March 1918, 223 women sailed to France, assigned to Paris and later, to major battlefronts. Sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Operator Unit, they became known as the Hello Girls and were detailed to General Pershing.

Two of the Hello Girls died during the war, including Inez Crittenden who was buried in France. Family members received an American flag and Army Signal Corps commendation at the memorials.

When the war was over, despite having worn Army uniforms and dog tags and swearing the Army oath, the Hello Girls were denied veteran status. For six decades, the Hello Girls and their advocates continued to demand recognition as Army soldiers and veterans’ status. In 1977, President Carter signed a bill recognizing some specialized all-female units in World War I as members of the Army, and through the advocacy of one of the remaining Hello Girls, language was inserted to include them. However, only 33 Hello Girls were alive at that time, and they were not given veterans’ benefits or backpay.

The Sonoma program began with music by the Sonoma Ceremonial Brass Band, followed by an introduction of Courtial Smith and the Hello Girls history by Maeve Smith.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Bear Flag Post 1943, AMVETS, and the Jack London Post 489 American Legion made presentations honoring Courtial Smith. Her name will be added to the Star of Honor Wall at the Sonoma Veterans Cemetery.

Zoe Dunning, retired Navy commander and commissioner of the World War I Centennial Commission, spoke of the significant contributions of the Signal Corps Telephone Operator Unit to the war effort and to advancing women’s’ rights in the early 20th century.

Read the entire article on the Sonoma Index-Tribune newspaper website here:

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