The American Girl of the Signal Corps Abroad

If you like treasure hunts, solving mysteries and maybe surprises, then you will like, if not, love genealogy. My genealogy journey about the life and times of maternal grandmother has been a wealth of all of that. Another unexpected discovery while doing genealogy research has been how many nice and helpful people I’ve met along the way. Genealogy is  like one big jigsaw puzzle. You don’t have all the pieces but you will discover that people outside of your family may have a missing piece or two that will help you expand or round out your ancestors profile. Here’s my little tale about  how a letter from one source connected me to a painting and a second source could confirm its connection to my family.

Mid-August 2024 is when the unexpected happened thanks to folks I’ve met through the United States World War 1 Centennial Commission. We now work together on the The Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal campaign on Capitol Hill. I’ve spent months on my own looking for new information about my grandmother and, at times, it has felt like I kept returning to the same dry well hoping to find something new not knowing where else to look.

It was during an online research team meeting that I finally asked for suggestions about new, online sources to query. My question was interrupted by Carolyn Timbie, the granddaughter of Grace Banker, who hopped on the call in the middle of our session. I repeated my question to the group. Carolyn said, “hold on, let me check something”. A few minutes later she came back holding up a scrapbook. On the inside cover, there is the same  image of this painting and you can clearly see the artist’s signature, Archie Gunn. We all gasped! Surprise and delight rippled through the group when realizing this confirms the letter that I was given a few months ago from this other source.

That other source was Elizabeth Cobbs, the author of The Hello Girls book. First, here’s a little background…Elizabeth and I finally met in person on 3 May 2024 at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery, Brentwood, MD. This was a glorious day, when a significant missing puzzle piece of my grandmother’s life was finally put in place. She finally received her first grave marker and one that recognized her military service during WWI thanks to the United States World War 1 Centennial Commission, The Doughboy Foundation, and the National Cemetery Administration.

My grandmother symbolizes in many ways all the Hello Girls who were ignored and forgotten by the U.S. Government and by U.S. history for being America’s first women soldiers during WWI. I loved reading Elizabeth Cobbs’ book. It was a real page turner. It gave me a global perspective on U.S. history prior to entering WWI; the historical and political concerns still lingering in society since the Civil War; society’s views and expectations of women then; and an intimate look at what the Hello Girls did and their experiences which led them to go to war alongside the Doughboys.

Their story didn’t end when peace was declared 1918 because the U.S. government and the U.S. Army, at that time, said one thing and did another. The Hello Girls didn’t settle for this “political switch and bait” about their service in the AEF. Their story carried on until September 2015. The last chapter of Elizabeth’s book, Soldiering Forward, describes the perseverance of the surviving women during the 1970, and the decency of those supporters who respected and cherished them. It was a real tear jerker ending and I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who haven’t yet read this book. Elizabeth’s storytelling skills capture your mind and your heart. “She unearthed the original letters and diaries of these forgotten heroines and weaved them into a fascinating narrative with energy and zest”. Perhaps I digress a bit, but I owe a great deal to Elizabeth Cobb’s contribution to understanding my grandmother’s history through her writing of this book.

Now let’s return to that letter she sent me, about a month ago, out of the blue. She emails me a copy of a typed letter written by my great-grandmother on behalf of my grandmother, dated August 1936. The purpose of this letter was to find information on those responsible for forming the bilingual operators cadre in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in order to get the promised war bonus. Upon my grandmother’s discharge in June 1919, she remained in Paris to continue her music studies. Prior to WWI, she won a scholarship to study in Paris. WWI changed the path of many lives. My grandmother instead answered the call of the nation to join the U.S. Army Signal Corps and went to France anyway as a bilingual telephone operator under the command of General Pershing.

These women who volunteered, from across North America, for the U.S. Army Signal Corps were trained by AT&T to become telephone operators for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). They handled all the battlefield tactical communications, to include “the transport of munitions, food and especially the carrying of the wounded to the nearest available hospitals”, and interfaced with the French and British armies using their bilingual skills, even using codes, all under hostile conditions . They were assigned anywhere and worked 24/7 as needed. They were faced with the same dangers as the Doughboys and were subject to all Army regulations, even court martial. They served honorably and were recognized by those with whom they served enlisted and officers alike all the way up to General Pershing himself. This was also the same time period of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. Two women died in service and one is still buried in Suresnes Cemetery on the outskirts of Paris. Her name is Inez Crittenden.

When the majority of the Signal Corps women returned to the States, all of them were not recognized nor given any of the military veterans benefits including their war bonus, The Bonus Act of 1926. To give a bit of historical perspective, the Doughboys also protested for their war bonus which had a maximum pay out for overseas veterans at $625. The bonuses were not to be paid until each veteran’s birthday in 1945.During the summer of 1932, upwards of 20,000 WW1 male veterans marched on Washington, D.C., where they protested and camped out on the Capitol steps. The House of Representatives passed the War Bonus bill but the Senate defeated it. The situation grew worse due to the bill’s defeat, the summer heat and outrage of the male veterans, many of whom were struggling during the Great Depression. Finally, the Attorney General Mitchell ordered the D.C. police to remove the veterans from government property and a riot broke out. Police shot and killed two protesters and thousands were tear gassed. President Hoover ordered General McArthur to force the veterans out.

I can only presume about my grandmother’s efforts while still living in Paris to obtain her benefits. Like many others she possibly grew desperate and turned to ask for her mother’s help to write letters to the responsible parties. In this letter, my great-grandmother lays out her daughter’s job description, the intense and long interview and training process, the significance of her duties both during the war and during the peace talks in service for a U.S. diplomat in the Hotel Crillon in Paris. She wrote that her daughter “was refused the bonus on the ground that she had been simply a ‘civil employee. Necessarily, she considered this either a mistake or an injustice, as she was sworn into the Army after a most severe mental and physical test, wore the uniform of the Signal Corps, was subject to martial law, and was honorably discharged after two years of service.” My great-grandmother also wrote how her daughter “had the honor to be chosen to represent or typify ‘The American Girl of the Signal Corps Abroad’ in a large and beautiful painting by the artist Archie Gunn.” What a powerful and astonishing letter! Another puzzle piece in place about the life and times of my grandmother thanks to Elizabeth Cobbs and Carolyn Timbie. And what a beautiful and romantic depiction of a young woman in her prime of life going off to war alongside the Doughboys. My grandmother and Unit 4 sailed on the troop ship, USS Lapland, to France in June 1918.

The ship USS Lapland (left) carried many of the Hello Girls to France in 1918, including Operator Marie Edmee Leroux, portrayed at right in the painting “‘The American Girl of the Signal Corps Abroad“’ by artist Archie Gunn.

Today’s technologies and platforms accelerate the joy and discovery of genealogy research. I feel very fortunate to be able to uncover not only my grandmother’s history but also to relearn or to delve more fully into segments of our American history that she was a part of. The Hello Girls history was acknowledged initially as the bilingual telephone operator cadre was stood up, trained then deployed. However, when these same women were denied veterans status after the war which pushed their story further into obscurity.

I mentioned earlier our Hello Girls CGM campaign. I sincerely hope when we win Gold for our grandmothers and great-aunts, that their story will finally be written back into the history books for all to read and appreciate their selfless patriotism which defied all the rules of their time. All of the women of the WW1 U.S. Army Signal Corps were patriots and what they accomplished as America’s First women soldiers was above and beyond the ordinary. I am proud of my grandmother’s service. She lived on two continents. She was a veteran of WWI and a survivor of WWII, a signer, a mother and a patriot of her time. Their courage and dedicated service is admirable and inspirational.

Catherine Bourgin (left) and her grandmother Marie Edmee LeRoux

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