Oleda Ruth Joure, Operator

Application for Membership in the Signal Corps Telephone Unit (1918)

How the Army recruited and screened bilingual operators for service in France. Features Exhibit B with Adele L. Hoppock’s questionnaire—language attestations, medical fitness, instruction pledge, and wartime commitment.

223 Women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Operators Overseas (1918–1919)
Explore the earliest compiled roster of 223 “Hello Girls,” the U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators who served overseas during World War I. Based on 1918–1919 press and Signal Corps reports, this list reflects the original wartime recognition of these women’s service and leadership.

Includes names, operating units, and select period photographs—an invaluable snapshot of how the women of the Signal Corps were viewed during the war itself.

Roster and Hometowns of the WWI “Hello Girls” – U.S. Army Signal Corps Telephone Operators (1918–1920)
Explore the complete roster of 223 women and two men who served as U.S. Army Signal Corps telephone operators during World War I. Organized by unit and hometown, this list reveals the national and international scope of the bilingual operators who kept the American Expeditionary Forces connected across France.

This roster serves as a cornerstone for genealogists, educators, and historians researching the pioneering women who made military communications possible.

Exhibit H — Pershing’s Commendation of Signal Corps Operators (1918)

Dated 20 November 1918, this concise commendation credits “the officers and men and the young women of the Signal Corps” for wartime communications—an A.E.F.-level nod that explicitly includes the Hello Girls.

Memento of the Telephone Operating Units – Signal Corps (1918)
Explore the rare commemorative booklet presented to the U.S. Army’s “Hello Girls” at Christmas 1918 in France—filled with officer commendations, photographs, and personal keepsakes.

This artifact offers a tangible link between the women’s frontline service and their later fight for veteran recognition.

Affidavit of Helen Bixby Moore (1977)

A first-person account of a Hello Girl who took the Army oath, wore Signal Corps insignia, trained on long-distance boards, and operated Pershing’s and Hoover’s switchboards at Tours and GHQ Paris.

Note: Rosters list Moore in the Sixth Unit; her affidavit references the 5th unit’s Channel crossing.”

Affidavit of Oleda Joure Christides (1977)

Unit 6 testimony covering dual Army oaths, War Dept. orders, Signal Corps uniforms/insignia, Southampton quarantine, and GHQ Chaumont duty—ending with the postwar discharge vs. termination letter dispute.

Christides’ narrative is a compact primer on the status question—oaths, orders, uniforms, command, and discipline—while also preserving the communications tempo at GHQ and the women’s role in a modern military network.

Sixth Unit Shares in Telephone Work in France Telephone Operators Doing Overseas Service in France “Plug In" for Victory. The Telephone Review, October 1918. | GGA Image ID # 1980c4cb71. Click to View a Larger Image.

Oleda R. Joure in Uniform of the US Army Signal Corps, 1918. US Army Photo, Colorized by GG Archives. | GGA Image ID # 236dc45122. Click to View a Larger Image.