Elizabeth Macauley, 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 Merle Egan Anderson (1977)

Unit 5 operator recounts her oath and induction, Army uniforms and unique telephone-rank insignia, crossing on Aquitania, training soldiers on magneto switchboards in Tours, and later service for the American Peace Commission in Paris.

Fifth Unit of Telephone Operators for General Pershing's Army, from the Forces of the Bell System Photographed on Roof of 195 Broadway, New York, August 2. 1918. Left to Right. Front Row: Miss Mildred Lewis, Miss Zada F. Black, Miss Anita Chance, Miss Louise Barbour, Miss Anna Kinney, Miss Nell S. Wilkins, Miss Helen Cook, Miss Norma G. Finch, Miss Elizabeth M. Shovar, Miss Sarah Fairbrother, Miss Annie F. Sheerin, Miss Ruth Keeping, Miss Helen M. Hayes, Miss Christie V. Bickford. Back Row: Miss Elizabeth Macauley, Miss Agnes E. Blazina, Miss Ena Robb, Miss Louise M. Wilcox, Miss Faye R. Honey, Miss Martha M. Henshaw, Miss Merle Egan, Miss Laura Gridley, Miss Helen Carey, Miss Vera Sjostrom, Miss Jessie D. Brown, Miss Grace B. Knall, Miss Elizabeth O'Brien, Miss Mary E. Sealey, Miss Irene A. Gifford, Miss Marguerite Mahoney. The Telephone Review, September 1918. | GGA Image ID # 1928fddc68. Click to View a Larger Image.

Girls Who Handle Toul "Central" Signal Corps Telephone Operators, Toul, Meurthe Et Moselle, France, 17 January 1919. From Left to Right: First Row: Elizabeth Maculey; Marie Lemaire; Miss E. G. Hunter, Chief Operator; Rose Langelier; Marie A. Gagnon. Second Row: Kathleen Mitchell: Melanie Van Gastel; Elenore A. Brown; Suzanne Coheleach and 1st Lt. Frank Hogan, in Charge of Operators, Photograph by Lt. Fox, Signal Corps. National Archives and Records Administration, 111-SC-49636. NARA ID # 86705378. | GGA Image ID # 19a13e3fab. Click to View a Larger Image.