Senators, historians seek to honor WWI’s ‘Hello Girls’

Published 3:00 pm Saturday, April 24, 2021

ATKINSON, N.H. — As she helped her parents move from their home a decade ago, Carolyn Timbie stumbled upon what she calls a “treasure trove” of items from World War I — a helmet, gas mask, uniforms, letters, artillery shells and a clip of ammunition.

They were artifacts saved by her grandmother, Grace Banker, from her time near the front lines in France. Banker was chief operator of a group of 223 women pressed into service by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Now, about 60 years after the death of a grandmother she never met, Timbie is enlisted in an effort among some historians and a group of U.S. senators to recognize the service of the women later dubbed the “Hello Girls.”

A bill refiled by a bipartisan group of lawmakers including New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan calls for the women to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by Congress.

“Grace Banker and the other Hello Girls were true patriots who answered America’s call to action by serving as crucial links between American and French forces on the front lines during World War I,” said Hassan, who cited the women’s “brave and selfless service.”

Timbie said women of the Signal Corps, who spent years after World War I advocating to simply be recognized as veterans by the U.S. Army, should get “full recognition.”

“Still today, we have women who have to work extra hard for recognition, and so many women identify with this story,” she said.

Banker, who was working as a switchboard operator in Passaic, N.J., was recruited into the Signal Corps with other women when as soldiers were struggling to connect calls between the U.S. and French armies.

The bilingual operators served at military headquarters in France, alongside Gen. John “Blackjack” Pershing,” and in posts near the front lines.

Timbie said her grandmother was an adventurer who wanted to see the world. She bucked the trend of getting married young and instead chose to go to the war.

“My greatest connection to my grandmother is to seek out adventure and travel,” she said.

Having returned from Europe, Banker settled down and had a family. She and her husband bought a house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, which Timbie now visits with her brothers.

The Hello Girls ultimately won the right to vote in the country they served. However, their war service was seen as civilian, not military, until 1978, when they finally won recognition as veterans. By then only 33 were still alive.

“They were 10 to 15 miles from the front,” Timbie said, recalling the descriptions in her grandmother’s war letters. “They could hear the bombing and artillery fire. They were not without risk.”

Banker did receive the Distinguished Service Medal from the Army in 1919, though it recognized her service only, not the efforts of the women she led.

The story of the “Hello Girls” has spread more recently. They were the subject of a 2017 book by historian Elizabeth Cobb, then a documentary and a musical.

As she digs into the past and helps advocate for the Signal Corps operators, Timbie said she feels even closer to her grandmother and her mother. She said she thinks Banker would be “smiling” to know members of Congress are working to honor the military operators.