A century later, the Hello Girls receive recognition

Senate passes Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act to honor women who served in the Army as telephone operators in World War I.

The Senate last week unanimously passed the Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act, a measure to honor the landmark service of the brave women who served in the Army as telephone operators and connected American and French military forces on the front lines of World War I.

This legislation, sponsored by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, would award the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, dubbed the Hello Girls, with the Congressional Gold Medal for their service to the nation and subsequent 60-year fight to be recognized as veterans. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.

American Legion Legislative Commission Chairman Patricia Harris applauded Tester for his support of the honor for the group of 223 women who were the first female soldiers in the U.S.

"I am incredibly proud of this legislation,” said Harris, an Army NCO who served in the modern-day Signal Corps as a secured switchboard operator. “I recognize that the Hello Girls paved the way for us. Women have played instrumental roles in the military throughout our nation’s history. Among those were the Hello Girls, despite being told their service did not count afterward. While the Congressional Gold Medal is a major step forward in honoring women's military service, the work is not complete. We look forward to the bill becoming law and the memory of the Hello Girls and their service being honored.” 

The Legion has long supported the designation, including the passage of Resolution 110 by the National Executive Committee in 2018. More recently, the Legion conducted an email campaign that led to Legionnaires sending more than 21,000 messages to Congress in support of the bill.

Additionally, American Legion staff in Washington, D.C., have worked with members of Congress and allied organizations for months to make sure that the Legion perspective was heard and our support for this measure was known.