Bertha J. Verkler, Operator
Quick Facts
- Alternate Name: Bertha Jacobena Verkler
- Unit: Three
- Deployed: The third group that was led by Chief Operator Nellie F. Snow made the crossing on the RMS Baltic on April 25, 1918.
- Repatriated:
- Hometown at Time of Enlistment: Chicago, Illinois
- Original Hometown (if Known):
- Education:
- Occupation at Enlistment:
- Lifespan: 1 January 1886 - 1 October 1961
- Remarks: Group No. 3 consists of girls who have been given intensive emergency training in telephony. These girls, for the most part, come from New York State. California and Massachusetts sent the next largest numbers. Seventy-two percent are Americans; 28 percent are foreign-born—French, Belgian, Canadian, English, Swiss, and Dutch East Indian. (Birth of the AEF Signal Corps Girls - 1918)
Articles and Documents on GG Archives
"Hello Girls" Documents & Reference Materials
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 Gertrude Hoppock (1977)
A sister’s sworn statement lodging exhibits from Adele (Unit 3) and Eleanor (Unit 4) Hoppock—evidence used in the 1977 hearings to recognize the Hello Girls as U.S. Army veterans.
Introduction & Context
Birth of the AEF Signal Corps "Hello Girls" (1918)
From Pershing's 1917 cable to first sailings in early 1918—how the Army built a bilingual, high-throughput switchboard force, what they wore, where they worked, and how they were supported.
Introduction & Context · Last updated: 2025
Photographs
Chicago Girls in Training for Service as Telephone Operators with American Army. Top, Left to Right—Miss Young, Suburban-Chief Instructor; Miss Millicent Martin, Miss Annie L. Gernon, Miss Lillian R. Verkler, Miss Grund, Suburban-Instructor; Miss Cummings, Suburban-Instructor; Miss Louise Beraud, Miss Helen Ort, Mrs. C. Moore, City School Principal. Bottom—Miss Bertha J. Verkler, Miss Evelyn Thomas, Miss Dorothy L. Sage, Miss Drucilla Palmer, Miss Marjorie Thomas, Miss Bertha Sjostrom. Bell Telephone News, April 1918. | GGA Image ID # 19af0ff822. Click to View a Larger Image.
Third Unit of Telephone Operators to Go to France to Serve with General Pershing behind the Allied Lines and Help Carry on the Business of War. The Telephone Review, May 1918. | GGA Image ID # 19225056a1. Click to View a Larger Image.
Repository Information
The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives (GG Archives) is cataloged with the Library of Congress under MARC Org Code: WiMfGGA and ISIL: US-wimfgga.
Current location:
N91W16562 Pershing Ave, #1
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051-2170, USA
Note: Historic addresses listed in earlier MARC records include Marietta, GA and Woodstock, GA. These appear in authority files but are no longer active.
