(dog barking).

(gentle instrumental music).

COKIE ROBERTS: I write women's history and I didn't know the stories of the Hello Girls.

MARK HOUGH: I thought I knew a lot about the First World War and what was going on, but I'd never heard of these women.

ANNE F. MACDONALD: Well, I've served for 30-plus years in the service and I've studied military history.

Yet I had never heard of the Hello Girls.

ELLOUISE SCHOETTLER: I had never heard of them.

They were switchboard operators.

WILMA VAUGHT: Home they came and did they get their veteran status?

They did not.

DENISE ROHAN: All of the things that we have today, all of the things, all of those rights could come back down to those, those few women who served our country.

(rumbling).

(explosions).

(guns firing).

(rapid gunfire) (telephone rings).

(bell rings).

(ship horn blares).

(people chattering).

MAN: Ah well.

GRACE BANKER: Aboard at last, after two months of preparation in the USA.

32 girls in my charge.

Youngest, 19.

One is quite old, 35, I think.

We are the only woman on board the ship.

The former Celtic of the White Star Line.

With faces glued to the portholes, we watched the Statue of Liberty fade from sight.

What a responsibility I have on my shoulders.

I've crossed the Rubicon now.

There can be no turning back.

♪ Over there, over there ♪ ♪ Send the word, send the word ♪ ♪ Over there ♪ ♪ That the Yanks are coming ♪♪ ELIZABETH COBBS: It's a war that's sort of lost for Americans, uh.

You know, we know it because we can count.

(laughs).

There's one and then there's two.

The United States had never fought a foreign war of any magnitude.

Uh, and certainly not with allies.

So how do you work with allies?

How do you co-operate?

How do you get your point across?

And, uh, and how do you prove that you can do this?

Uh, we take it for granted today that the United States is the world's largest military and at the time, it had really no military at all, no standing military.

And so they had to improvise in all kinds of ways.

MITCH YOCKELSON: And so as things continue to heat up with Germany, um, after Wilson wins reelection on his campaign of, uh, keeping America out of the war.

And then there's the so-called Zimmerman telegram, which is this message passed along by the German, um, envoy.

This telegram invites the Germans to say to the Mexicans, "Hey, if you want to go to war against the U.S., we encourage it and we support it.

We'll help supply you and arm you.

And if you come out of the victor, we'll help you get back, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas which you had lost during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to '48."

Once that's released publicly, Wilson's got no other choice.

He goes before Congress and he gives perhaps the best speech of his life on a rainy Monday evening on April 6, 1917 and convinces both houses of Congress plus the American people that it's time for the United States to go to war.

JONATHAN CASEY: The, um, so the Army eventually from a, an Army of, of active and reserve of about 200,000 we'll say, uh, became four million by the end of the war in November 11, 1918.

So they had to raise, obviously, a lot of people had to be brought into the service and trained and equipped and uniformed and everything.

So, everything in the whole economy was just focused on the war effort, everything in, in society and, and was focused on the war effort.

You either, uh, work or fight.

And so everything was really a total war that way, it was really society as a whole fighting it.

MITCH: Who's gonna lead this expeditionary forces, which was known as the AEF, there really were only two choices; Pershing who had experience most recently in Mexico.

And he essentially applied for the job that he thought was gonna be to lead whatever American contingent was gonna head over to Europe.

So he fires off a letter to President Wilson and he fires off a similar one to Secretary of War, Baker.

And he says, "Look, you know, President Wilson, I, I read your speech, it really, um, moved me, I agree with you.

The United States needs to join this conflict.

And I'm available and I would like to serve in a capacity of leadership."

ELIZABETH: So the Secretary of War was a man named Newton Baker and Newton Baker was I don't know 5'4 or something like that.

He was kind of a short guy.

And so he literally looked up to Pershing.

MITCH: Pershing's called to Washington to meet with Baker and then with Wilson and he's selected for this position and he's given a tremendous amount of latitude.

ELIZABETH: And he told Pershing when he went over, he said, "I'm going to give you only two orders, go and come back and everything else is up to you."

(instrumental music).

(jazzy music).

SHELDON HOCHHEISER: I guess the first thing you need to know to understand the technology of the telephone system in the 19-teens is all telephone calls required, at least one human being, one telephone operator.

If a subscriber wanted to make a call, they would pick up the receiver on their telephone that would send an electrical signal or it would cause a light to flash on a switchboard.

And an operator would see that light, plug a cord to there would be a jack under the light.

And now she was attached to the other end of the line as the subscriber was, she would then say, "Number, please."

The subscriber would give her the number of the telephone.

If it were a local call, the operator would simply then take another cord, plug it into the jack corresponding to the requested number, it would ring on the bell, the telephone.

And either the, so the subscriber would pick up or not.

Once the call was complete, she would go on and do another call and then eventually watch for the light to go out.

When the light went out, that meant that the conversation was done and she could disconnect.

ELIZABETH: Well, the, um, in, in the United States, I mean, the Census Bureau and other organizations, sort of looking at what, what do people in America do, noted at the beginning of the 20th century that women had really made this occupation their own.

And, but it was also because for whatever reasons, the telephone company thought that women were really much better at this job than men.

SHELDON: Well, first off, why women?

The workforce was, at the time was very much gendered.

There were women's jobs, there were men's jobs.

And you have to remember this is before women got the vote across the United States and women were entering the workforce.

In looking for an alternative workforce, particularly one that would feel, the initial customers were largely very affluent business people which met in that time period, largely men.

Other telephone company started hiring women, the women worked out very well, not surprising that adult women were more likely to give polite courteous service than teenage boys.

And by the end of the 1880s, the telephone operator workforce was overwhelmingly women.

ELIZABETH: The women were recruited from all over the United States and they came from absolutely every corner and, uh, and they all were trained in different locales by AT&T.

But when Pershing got to Paris, I mean, he wasn't thinking about women, let's recruit women for the Army.

He was just trying to do what we all do, which is to pick up the phone and have something happen on the other end, you could wait, on average, 60 seconds for the phone to be connected.

Whereas when the women got there, the average time it took to connect a call was 10 seconds.

And part of it had to do with simply as the Army said, "Women have better nerves."

Well, in wartime that difference, 50 seconds is the difference between getting killed or not.

And so, uh, within a few months, Pershing put out the order and he said to, uh, to the U.S. War Department, "I want women telephone operators.

I want them uniformed."

And, uh, and so it took the Army a couple of months, they sent out letters, uh, and they got 7,600 letters from women applying for 100 positions.

So, you know, half of the men in the U.S. Army volunteered and all of the women volunteered.

(wind whistling).

(marching band music plays).

(marching band music plays).

(marching band music plays).

CAROLYN TIMBIE: Uh, Grace Banker had very strong faith.

Um, that is something she mentions through her diary.

ELIZABETH: Yeah, Grace Banker was a 25-year-old college graduate.

CAROLYN: She's on the baseball team.

So that's her right there.

(reflective music plays).

CAROLYN: And she also did theater, very involved in theater.

So she was very active.

She majored, I believe she did a double major of history and French, she graduated, she went to AT&T... ELIZABETH: Got the very best job, a woman from Barnard College of Columbia University could get at the time, which was a telephone operator.

CAROLYN: So she was there until lo and behold, she saw an advertisement looking for, uh, women to serve in the Signal Corps overseas.

ELIZABETH: And, and she as soon as she read in, in the New York Post that they were looking for women operators, she wrote that very day.

CAROLYN: And then I think it was January of 1918, said, "I, I am very interested and I will, I will serve for the duration of the war."

ELIZABETH: And to her enormous surprise, she was made the leader of the expedition 'cause there weren't women soldiers and therefore there weren't women officers, but they needed women officers.

And so they made her, the chief operator.

(hooves clopping).

(engine rumbling).

GRACE: Awoke in Liverpool after 12 days at sea, some American boys were lost.

The grippe, they say.

It's wartime in England.

Fish soup and awful barley coffee, the bread hard as a rock.

(horn blares).

Few days later, we crossed the Irish Sea, the greenest water I have ever seen.

The passage was dangerous.

(whistling).

I awoke one morning and in the distance I saw a lighthouse, the fog lifted and I could see La Havre itself.

Finally, France!

(waves crashing).

(steam locomotive rumbling).

We took a train to the Hotel Petrograd in Paris.

(train whistle blows).

Rooms were assigned and we went to bed.

It's midnight and I am so weary.

I worry about my girls.

(whistle blows).

(explosions).

(gasps).

(speaking in French).

WOMAN: Rapidement... Vite!

Vite!

(knocking on door) Levez vous, levez vous... (speaking in French).

WOMAN: Rapidement... Vite!

Vite!

WOMAN 2: Rapidement.

Vite!

Vite!

(panting) (whistle blows) (explosions) (screaming) (people chattering) (screaming) (pensive piano music plays) (pensive piano music plays) ELIZABETH: At that moment, their officers said, "We knew then that they were gonna be okay 'cause those women did not flinch."

CAROLYN: The women, they all wanted to go to the front.

They wanted to get to this close to the front lines as possible.

This was exciting.

It was obviously a very serious job, but they just wanted to be in it.

ELIZABETH: And they came back up and the next day they were ready.

You know, "We're eager.

We wanna start, let us, let's start connecting calls today."

CAROLYN: I, you know, she was, she, she walked the line of being a supervisor.

She was, she had this unique ability to be genuine.

She was funny.

She would do pranks with the women.

At the same time, she would also discipline when necessary.

ELIZABETH: The women when they first started, of course, were so excited and so thrilled to be there.

And one of them, the very young Louise Le Breton who was 18 masquerading as 21 because she thought she wouldn't be chosen otherwise.

Uh, she, one of her first calls was from General Pershing.

CAROLYN: He had just, he wanted to know what the time was... ELIZABETH: And she got off the line and she sang out to the telephone exchange.

"I just spoke with General Pershing!"

CAROLYN: Ah... "I just talked to General Pershing," and she was all excited and all that.

And Grace Banker said, "Come with me," and said, "You do not.

We have to be professional.

We have a job to do."

ELIZABETH: That was not how a soldier of the United States Army should comport herself.

GRACE: Colonel Gibbs called and asked me what I knew about going to the front.

I said, "I knew nothing.

I have learned to know nothing in the Army."

Middle of the morning, we were told to go back and pack up.

We were already going forward further front.

Suddenly the rain stopped and the sun came out.

MITCH: The telephone operators, the Hello Girls, play a significant role in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

The largest battle in American history, both in length, but also in size of participants.

They're, uh, relaying messages back and forth.

It's a very chaotic situation.

ELIZABETH: When they were at the Army headquarters near Verdun, in the battle of Meuse-Argonne, and a German prisoner of war knocked over a, an oil stove.

The women's barracks, uh, were these wooden tinder boxes that the French had use, and, um, and they went up in flames.

GRACE: What a day!

Our barracks burned up along with several others.

Great funnels of black smoke, licking tongues of flame.

"Get what you can out," someone ordered.

Lucky, our switchboard exchange was moved the day before the bucket brigade saved it.

After we searched for our belongings, my toothbrush came to light in a shoe.

ELIZABETH: They knew that if they stopped their work for even a moment that some battalion could come under fire, that they would not be able to get communication back to headquarters.

The Army could not alert the men.

And so they kept connecting calls until finally, uh, their officers again, a superior officer ran and said, "Okay, you have to get out now."

CAROLYN: When the armistice was declared and they basically, the end of the first Army for, uh, Grace Banker, she ended up going to Paris, I believe, was the next place.

Um, it was kind of, it just fizzled out.

And she eventually did end up in Koblenz; where she did get the Distinguished Service Medal.

I always knew about my grandmother and what an important role she played.

But what I love to, to really dwell on, as my mom said, "You would have loved your grandmother."

As I look through the letters, she is well respected by generals and General Pershing.

And we're so proud of the work that she did.

But it wasn't her, it was the girls they worked together and she really made a point of saying it was all the girls that she was with.

(upbeat tune plays).

♪ The bells are ringing ♪ ♪ For me and my gal ♪ ♪ The birds are singing ♪♪ CANDY MCCORKELL: And it was just sort of part of the dinner table conversation, very typical 1950s and so stories would get told and, and part of the joke and sort of casual conversation was my grandmother and grandfather, both serving in the Army in World War I and chasing each other around France during this romance that they had.

Um, while he was the driver and chauffeur and bodyguard and she was the Signal Corps, telephone operator.

Having met my grandfather, would get transferred somewhere partly because perhaps the supervisors were a little concerned about this young love happening.

Nevertheless, oh, golly, do we really want this unfolding love story?

So they would transfer my grandmother somewhere and my grandfather would get transferred.

Wonderful stories of the Signal Corp girls because of course, the switchboards were the pull-cord button things.

And, um, in the evenings, if Jack was over here across France and Addie was over here, the Signal Corps girls who were all in on this romance would plug them in across the switchboards across France, so Jack and Addie could talk of an evening and there was always the joke that they were unplugging the generals and saying, "Oops," but plugging in Jack and Addie.

(romantic uplifting music).

I have, um, February 1st, 1919, permission from, uh, the 1st Lieutenant Commanding Company Officer, giving them permission to be married in France during wartime.

There were, um, some very specific legal requirements and formalities for marriage for Americans in France.

An American attorney and counselor at law in Paris.

All of the legal requirements that you had to meet as far as being able to marry; and buying a ring was the least of his problems; in terms of getting a chance to marry this cute little farm girl.

But what he did, they did was they did indeed get married.

JACK CONVERSE: February 2nd; Obtained leave to visit Paris, arrived at Gare D'Orsay at 8:00 am.

Spent morning with Addie, then went on a hunt for a good-natured minister.

No luck.

Spent evening together.

Some day.

February 3rd; Met with Reverend Goodridge who gave the name of an attorney, Mister Loeb who assured us it was possible but not probable to get all the stamps and signatures today.

Not sure, but hoping.

Then bought wedding ring to hold courage up.

Spent evening together.

The race was on.

February 4th; Met Addie at 8:45 am.

Had breakfast and went to the Bureau of Registration then to mayor's office.

11:25 am; Married in French by the Mayor of the ninth district, married to the dearest and sweetest little girl in the world.

And sure am some happy, for I love her with all my heart.

(wind whistles).

(upbeat jazz music plays).

(upbeat jazz music plays).

(upbeat jazz music plays).

(waves crashing).

MERLE EGAN: As we sailed out of the New York Harbor, a young aviator asked me, "Why are you in that uniform?"

I looked him straight in the eye.

"Same as you.

I'm on my way to France to help win the war."

ELLOUISE: Well, she's a flamboyant person.

She had to be, she had a lot of energy, a lot of energy.

She didn't speak French and so she didn't join the Hello Girls until July, but they needed her by that time because she was a highly experienced trainer and especially on those little Magneto switchboards that were gonna go up into the trenches.

And so she trained 60 men one time in three days.

And the man said, uh, in the group as they were assembling, "Well, when do we get our skirt?"

"You're not going to get one, but think about this, that when you're in the trench with your rifle, you have a rifle.

When you go into the trench with your little Magneto, you could save a whole battalion."

MERLE: I finally went to see the Army doctor.

The infection in my toe was severe.

He took one look and prescribed cold steel.

Lanced it without anesthesia.

I think he was surprised when I didn't squeal.

I got to France a week late.

ELLOUISE: She stayed longer in France.

She stayed three or four months longer.

She took over as the Chief Operating Officer in the Paris office when, uh, Grace Banker didn't want it.

And she had a riotously fun time and said that, uh, I've always thought of her as one of those soldiers that they talked about.

You know, that, what are you gonna do after they've been to Paris?

Are you gonna get 'em back on the farm?

You know, and she would say that intimate that she didn't want to go home right away, but then she had to, she was engaged.

They were supposed to be getting married.

Life was going to intervene.

(wind whistling).

(upbeat piano tune).

(upbeat piano tune).

(upbeat piano tune).

(gentle piano music plays).

(gentle piano music plays).

(gentle piano music plays).

(gentle piano music plays).

(gentle piano music plays).

MICHELLE CHRISTIDES: You know, they thought that the war was gonna last another 10 years.

And that's what my mother said when she enlisted and was sworn in, and was going over on the Olympic.

It suddenly hit her that she missed all her brothers and sisters and certainly her parents; and she used to leave the, the room and go up and hide under a, a lifeboat and cry out loud.

She said she had never been away from home before.

And I think she was still 19 or I don't know how old she was 20, I guess.

I said to my mother, "What memories do you have of being in Chaumont?

Did you go, did you see anything to do with the war?"

And she said, "Well, I visited the hospital to talk to the boys."

And of course, that meant a lot to them to have an American woman, especially in uniform, walk in.

And she said, "I remember seeing one young man whose arm was mutilated to the shoulder, the flesh hanging down."

She said, "I never saw such a dark look of despair on a young person's face.

I'll never forget it until the end of my days."

And now here I am at the end of my life, my mother told me something extraordinary.

She said, "If you live long enough, you're going to have everything come full circle and make sense."

So I've painted all my life and I did paint my mother standing probably right there because that building behind us is in the painting.

(gentle piano music plays).

(gentle piano music plays).

OLEDA JOURE: I played for the troops last night.

The YMCA director asked me if I could stay in England.

He needed a piano player.

"I can't," I said, "I've been sworn into the Army and I'm going to France."

(somber piano music plays).

(somber piano music plays).

HELEN RICHARD: At the end, 223 of these women were chosen and I am very proud to say that my mom was one of them.

She was from a very small town, it's from Michigan, from Marine City.

And she had, she was of French Canadian descent, spoke some French in the house and had taken lessons from a Jesuit priest.

And she was chosen and it was a great honor for her because you see her older brother; and here's a picture of her older brother who was, by the way, good looking one.

WOMAN: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

HELEN: That's Wallace Joure, also from Marine City.

And, uh, they both served; now he was with the first Army quartet.

So we all used to tease him.

I said, "Hey, Uncle Wally, your sister was on the front lines.

You were singing your way, "It's a long way to Tipperary" all the way.

"How did this happen?"

And my mother who was a, a pianist, a great piano player has played for General Pershing.

In fact, she said the night of the Armistice in 1918, they were all playing... She was probably doing a great job on the piano.

ELIZABETH: The war came to an end so suddenly that people didn't see it happening almost.

Although Bertha Hunt, who was one of the telephone operators took the calls and, and conveyed those calls to General Pershing, you know, that an armistice has been signed.

So in some ways, it took them by surprise and, and that it had gone on so long and then to suddenly stop at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

(explosions).

(cannons firing).

♪ (La Marseillaise) ♪ ♪ Allons enfant de la patrie, ♪ ♪ Le jour de gloire est arrivé!

♪ ♪ Contre nous de la tyrannie, ♪ ♪ L'étendard sanglant est levé ♪ ♪ L'étendard sanglant est levé ♪ ♪ Entendez-vous dans les campagnes ♪♪ CAROLYN: So this was really interesting, I guess.

Um, so it's a memento... HELEN: Given to all of the operators.

There's my mom's name Oleda Ruth Joure.

CAROLYN: This book was put together by the Signal Corps men, and basically they were letters.

This whole thing is filled with letters in appreciation and what the Signal Corps, or the Hello Girls meant to them.

HELEN: Christmas, France, 1918, the officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps have performed their duties with a large... CAROLYN: Conception of the problem and with a devoted and patriotic spirit.

HELEN: To which the perfection of our communications daily testify.

John J. Pershing, Commander in Chief of American Expeditionary Forces.

You see, he appreciated them.

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

(reflective music plays).

ELIZABETH: The Hello Girls arrived before most of the doughboys and left after most of the doughboys were home, because communications are about logistics and somebody has to help get those guys over there and help get them back.

So they were discharged when the Army said, you know, "You can go now."

And so, and so they, they, for example, Grace Banker went and was a part of the occupation of Germany.

We often forget Germany was occupied for a time.

The last telephone operators left in January of 1920 to come home.

And when they came home, they were told; "You were never soldiers."

(wind whistling).

MERLE: Dear Senator Jackson.

I am one of the Signal Corp telephone operators who enlisted and were sent to France during World War I to operate Army switchboards.

JACKSON: Dear Madam, reference is made to your application of June 16, 1941 for the Purple Heart decoration.

MERLE: We signed no contracts.

We wore regulation uniforms with Army buttons and Signal Corps insignia.

JACKSON: The members of the Signal Corps overseas telephone unit did not possess military status, but we're civilian employees... MERLE: Only males can serve.

Many of our women are gone now.

The government need to bear no financial burden, but we do want our recognition to which we are entitled... JACKSON: Has not changed in as much as you are not a bona fide member of the Army but served in the capacity of a civilian employee.

I regret that you are not eligible... MERLE: Please, Senator Jackson, will you work on our team?

We want our rightful place in history.

Sincerely yours, Merle E. Anderson.

ELIZABETH: It was mystifying to the women, how they could not have been soldiers when they were told again and again, "You're in the Army now."

And, uh, and the Army said such things as, um, you know, "Well, you never took the Army oath," and they said, "Well, but, you know, in our personnel files, we have, you know, evidence of the many oaths they took, you know, oath of loyalty to the US Army," which they took multiple times, especially as they rose in rank, every single time they had to take to the oath again.

And then the Army said, "Well, you were civilians under contract," and they said, "But we have no civilian contracts.

We signed no contract.

We took an oath."

Uh, and, but the Army was never willing to produce the contract.

The Army did not go, the Army, I think by that time had forgotten even that the women had taken oaths because it went on for decades and decades... MITCH: Right after the war ends, from people, from soldiers, from private entities, from charities.

All wanting a piece of Pershing to endorse whether it's a book, whether it's a fund, anything.

And he reads every letter, he has his aides respond to every request.

He's mortified by the fact that we lost so many men in short amount of time that he spends most of his time as the chair of the American Battle Monuments Commission, so the American contribution to the war is not forgotten and he's being pulled in many different directions.

So I don't think he purposely snubbed the Hello Girls.

He had, you know, responsibility as a General to serve his country and to be apolitical.

But he also had his other, you know, uh, feelings and that was towards the, the deceased, those that had been left behind.

ELLOUISE: I remember Merle Egan Anderson got angry because she ran into some Yeomanettes in the '20s, they were in the hospital and they were being treated as veterans and that really went up her back.

DAVID WINKLER: You know, they, they're called Yeomanes, Yeomanettes.

So there was a Naval Preparedness Act, uh, of 1916, that was passed and it broadened the mandate for the, uh, Naval Reserve.

Kinda had a loophole in it.

You can go out and recruit women.

Once the word is on the street that the Navy can, uh, recruit women.

Uh, there is a, you know, pretty tremendous response.

ELLOUISE: Their regulations said any person that serves, any person that serves will get their benefits.

They will be veterans.

When the Army wrote their regulations.

One word, they all realized, those that were still living... One word cost them 60 years.

ELIZABETH: And, and so there were a group of women who persevered, but really their leader became Merle Egan and Merle Egan was from Montana and she said, "I'm a stubborn gal and I, I can't give it up."

And so for years, for decades, they petitioned Congress.

They, they got bills introduced into the U.S. Senate into the House of Representatives.

They contacted newspapers and magazines.

She went to schools to tell school children so the story wouldn't be lost.

That this knowledge that women had served the U.S. Army in this profound way would not just simply, you know, disappear in the midst of time in a sense for Merle Egan, the message of old age was not to slow down, but to hurry up.

MARK: One day, I was just reading the newspaper at work and I came across this article about this woman who had been in this telephone operating unit.

Uh, and had been fighting with the Army ever since.

And it was just really fascinating.

ELIZABETH: And, um, Mark Hough contacted Merle Egan and said, "Do you need help?"

And he's, by this time, by the way, he was in his late 20s and she's in her late 80s.

MARK: I visited her.

She, we talked for quite a while and, and, uh, over the next several years became pretty good friends.

ELIZABETH: And so he became part of organizing the legal case.

MARK: It became clear to me that, that although there were a lot of good-intentioned people that had tried to help her along the way, uh, they never actually put it all together in a form that, uh, they could present to somebody in a more formal manner.

It was more like, "I know somebody that can help you," and so on and so forth.

There were a couple of people in the American Legion that, um, she thought could help her and they thought they could help her.

And, uh, but it just never, never panned out.

She thought they had come very close to getting Congress to do something or getting the army to do something, uh, right before the second World War started, and of course, when the war started, that was not a priority for anyone anymore.

ELIZABETH: Uh, so she had been organizing the political case and the public relations case.

But he said, "I think there's something here on the law," and the interesting thing, the key critical piece of evidence ultimately became the uniform itself.

And so if the government hands you a uniform and tells you to wear it, the government has made you a soldier.

MARK: Well, as, as a lawyer, I was focused first on, do we have a case here that we could go to court on?

The practical parts of it were not so clear.

Um, fact that you need people to testify, some of them weren't in the best of health, uh, whether they were capable of traveling to places, a lot of practical questions that, uh, made me pause.

ELIZABETH: Uh, one of the things they found.

And actually the National Organization for Women told Merle Egan, "Well, Senator Barry Goldwater is working out a bill to acknowledge the women of World War II who were also dissed by the U.S.

government."

MARK: So when I learned of this, uh, legislative activity, it seemed like a, a more fruitful avenue.

ELIZABETH: And, uh, and so what happens is that Mark Hough and the National Organization for Women and Merle Egan and Barry Goldwater, uh, and with the help of also congresswoman like Lindy Boggs.

COKIE: So when she was elected to Congress, uh, one of the women who had been involved with Hello Girls got in touch with her.

I got in touch with the two new female members of Congress.

My mother and Marjorie Holt and, uh, said, "Here's what's going on help us."

She realized as do many women who go to Congress that not only was she representing the second district of Louisiana, she was representing unbeknownst to her, the women of America and women came to her with their problems and concerns and among them were military women, uh, throughout the 20th century.

So, women from World War I, women from World War II, uh, came to her and told her of their stories and she was appalled.

She couldn't believe that these women had served so nobly and been treated so badly.

MARK: We convinced them to expand that legislation ever so slightly to include.

ELIZABETH: The WASPs of World War II and the Signal Corps women of World War I. MERLE: Today, the few Signal Corp telephone operators of World War I who are still living can celebrate our victory.

The Army has finally admitted we are legitimate.

In 1917, General Pershing called for American women to enlist to operate the Army switchboards.

But when the job was finished, we were told we hadn't been in the Army.

More than 50 bills were introduced in Congress without success!

In November 1977, a package bill was sent through Congress.

We were finally in the Army!

(uplifting music plays).

(uplifting music plays).

On November 23rd, 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed the legislation.

The Signal Corps women of World War I will have their place in history!

CAROLYN: And then when she did return, she said, you know, "It seems like it was so long ago.

I have moved on.

I am now in my civilian clothes."

She was not about the glory.

It was about the girls.

It was about this group of people who came together to win a war.

Uh, people wanted publicity.

We want photos, we want interviews, we want all these letters and we want your time, we wanna hear everything.

So through this whole process and reading the letters and reading the journals, I have just been absorbed and it's, it's been a very emotional experience too.

I'm reading about my grandmother when she was this 25-year-old girl and then I come across another folder and it's this long lines.

It's a, a communication put up, I think by, maybe by AT&T and I flipped through and it's basically a tribute to her because she just passed away.

And, uh... CANDY: The young couple, my grandparents ended up in Mount Vernon Washington, which is a little tiny town.

The first Armistice Day Parade.

There are the marching units and so on and so forth down this little town.

And we have a wonderful photo of my little teeny grandmother in her uniform is front and center down in the middle of main street leading the Armistice Day Parade.

My grandfather was so proud of that.

She became a Red Cross Gray Lady which had a very specific hospital nurse-type uniform with even a hospital nurse kind of hat with the Red Cross on it.

Um, she drove buses and trucks and things for the Red Cross.

You know, tens of thousands of hours working with the veterans in occupational therapy, kinds of things.

She was interested in stamp collecting.

She spent much of the rest of her life trying to get recognized and I certainly have very clear memories of her bitter, bitter disappointment.

Um, she was really strong and really functional until one day she just wasn't, would have made a big difference for her because she, she was very much respected by her community for her service.

She was respected by her family.

So, I'm glad that they did eventually get recognized.

I wish she had lived to see it.

MICHELLE: And, uh, so when I say that my mother, when she received her discharge papers in 1978, 60 years after the war ended, mother stood in front of the flags and the General handed the discharge papers and spontaneously, she raised it to her lips and kissed it.

Well, the local newspaper and the, the aides and the General all went crazy, "Do that again!"

And she said "Well, you know, this one was, was genuinely, you know," but then she looked at the General and she said, "So, where are my back paychecks?"

He didn't even smile because they actually had just admitted she had been in the Army for 60 years.

(laughs) HELEN: This is her honorable discharge from the American Expeditionary Force.

And I think it's dated 1919.

This is what she got.

Now, I'll tell you why my mother wanted to be a veteran.

The only thing she ever wanted was a flag on her grave.

And thank you.

And that's pretty much my mom's story.

♪ Mom, nights are long since you went away ♪ ♪ I think about you all through the day ♪ ♪ My buddy ♪ ♪ My buddy ♪ ♪ Nobody quite so true ♪ ♪ I miss your voice, the touch of your hand ♪ ♪ I long to know ♪ ♪ That you understand ♪ ♪ My buddy ♪♪ MARK: She lived, she was 96 when she died and she told me that she had a, a heart condition.

It was, uh, it was a heart condition that could have been easily fixed.

And, uh, even at her age because she was in pretty good shape otherwise.

And she told me, uh, "Look, I'm 96 years old.

All my friends are dead.

My hands shake so much, I can't read a book anymore.

And my quality of life is such that, uh, I don't think I wanna prolong things.

So..." MARK: It does.

No, nope.

ELIZABETH: You know, I love my country, and I therefore I want my country to be worth loving.

I stood by my word.

I want my country to stand by its word to me.

(wind whistling) SOLDIER: Right.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Right, aim... (rifles fire).

Right.

One, two, three.

Aim... (rifles fire).

Right.

SOLDIER 2: One, two, three...

SOLDIER: Aim... (rifles fire) Right.

SOLDIER 2: One, two, three...

SOLDIER: Present.

SOLDIER 2: Present.

SOLDIER: Arms.

SOLDIER 2: Full step.

Full stop.

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(Taps plays).

(triumphant, poignant music plays).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ELIZABETH: History is about understanding where we come from and if we don't see that start of that trail, we can't really understand how things change and why they change when they do.

We need to trace that trail back.

And for women in the military, this is where that trail begins in World War I. COKIE: So it's important that we learn these stories.

It's important that we tell these stories.

It's important not only for our girls to know these stories in some ways, it's even more important for our boys to know these stories so that they understand the contributions women have been making to this country from the beginning.

DENISE: So to the youth of the nation, I say history is important.

But to the veterans of this nation, I say, talk to your families, talk to your kids, get in the schools and tell your stories.

ELLOUISE: Men know their history.

We want our history, we want our history.

WILMA: Somehow, we had to get this memorial built and it had to tell the story of these people, not just a statue, not just the pillar, but some way, we had to be able to show what the history, the real history was.

And what women had done.

And how many did it.

ANNE: To the telephone girl... PARISA FEATHERTON: To the telephone girl... MARIE MACALINO: To the telephone girl... SHERIKA STAPP: To the telephone girl... WILMA: To The Telephone Girl, written by Francis H. Johnson.

ANNE: "From the cratered hills of no man's land to the switchboard where you sit..." PARISA: "There are none who serve so loyally, we know you do your bit..." SHERIKA: "For the world's bound round with the copper wire with you on the outer end..." MARIE: "Each flashing light that you plug in the night.

The message of hope you send..." JUANITA MULLEN: "You sit all alone at a magic loom and wave from out of the air..." ANNE: "The words of faith, of home, of love..." PARISA: "That go to our boys out there..." SHERIKA: For the war is not won with bursting shells..." MARIE: "Shrapnel or cannon alone."

WILMA: "You're doing your part with all your heart, little girl of the telephone."

(triumphant music plays) (triumphant music plays) OLEDA: I feel that there was finally a recognition for women in the Army service.

It shouldn't be discrimination like that.

And I think now that it's gonna help a lot.

For all the women, if they join the Army, I'd say we were pioneer people.

♪ To be proud her boy's in line ♪ ♪ Over there, over there ♪ ♪ Send the word, send the word over there ♪ ♪ That the Yanks are coming ♪ ♪ The Yanks are coming ♪ ♪ The drums rum-tumming everywhere ♪ ♪ So prepare ♪ ♪ Say a prayer, send the word ♪ ♪ Send the word, to beware ♪ ♪ We'll be over, we're coming over ♪ ♪ And we won't come back till it's over, over there ♪ ♪ Over there, over there ♪ ♪ Send the word, send the word over there ♪ ♪ That the Yanks are coming ♪ ♪ The Yanks are coming ♪ ♪ The drums rum-tumming everywhere ♪ ♪ So prepare ♪ ♪ Say a prayer, send the word ♪ ♪ Send the word, to beware ♪ ♪ We'll be over, we're coming over ♪ ♪ And we won't come back till it's over, over there ♪ ♪ Johnnie, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun ♪ ♪ Johnnie show the Hun you're a son of a gun ♪ ♪ Hoist the flag and let her fly ♪ ♪ Yankee Doodle do or die ♪ ♪ Pack your little kit ♪ ♪ Show your grit, do your bit ♪ ♪ Yankee to the ranks, from the towns and the tanks ♪ ♪ Make your mother proud of you ♪ ♪ And the old red, white, and blue ♪ ♪ Over there, over there ♪ ♪ Send the word, send the word over there ♪ ♪ That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming ♪ ♪ The drums rum-tumming everywhere ♪♪