Hello Girls finally win recognition as World War I veterans

In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France as telephone operators for the American Expeditionary Forces. Military leaders needed fast, accurate communications, and many of the recruits were bilingual operators who could handle the pace and pressure of wartime calling across France and the United States. They became known as the Hello Girls, among the first women soldiers tied to an American combat theater.

Congress finally moved to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Hello Girls, the Army Signal Corps operators who kept American military communications moving in France during World War I and were denied veteran status for generations. The legislation was folded into the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act.

After the war, the Army did not recognize the Hello Girls as U.S. Army soldiers, and that denial cost them veterans' benefits. Their fight for recognition lasted about 60 years. Congress passed a law in 1977 that paved the way for the women to be recognized as full veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, but the formal military record still lagged behind the reality of their service.

S.3136, the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2018, and later S.815, the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2024, kept the issue returning to Capitol Hill before becoming law. The legislation awards a Congressional Gold Medal to more than 220 Hello Girls and describes them as the first female soldiers to be officially deployed to a combat zone in American history.

Grace Banker received the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal on May 22, 1919. The medal now places their names alongside the Army record they helped build.