THE DOUGHBOY FOUNDATION's update

 

Public invited to Dedication Ceremony for Hello Girls unit tribute plaque May 25 at National Museum of the United States Army The public is invited to attend in person or via Zoom. On May 25, 2025, at the National Museum of the United States Army in Fort Belvoir, VA, a new unit tribute plaque will be dedicated to the WWI U.S. Army Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit, known popularly as the “Hello Girls.” The public is invited to attend, in person or via Zoom. RSVPs are required to attend in person; click on this link to RSVP: https://doughboy.org/event/hello-girls-unit-tribute-dedication-ceremony/ If you cannot attend in person, you can watch the event via Zoom at this link, starting at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 25: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83297116800 A reception will begin at 1:30 in Veterans’ Hall, followed by the dedication ceremony at 2 p.m., with the unveiling of the unit tribute plaque at the end of the event. Two granddaughters of Hello Girls will participate in the ceremony and will speak about their grandmothers. WWI music will be performed the Doughboy Foundation’s AEF Headquarters Band. A guided tour through the Museum's Nation Overseas gallery which covers World War I and Hello Girls memorabilia is available after the dedication ceremony. The Hello Girls were the first all-female unit in the US Army to directly contribute to combat operations in France and then post-war occupied Germany. When General Pershing asked for French-speaking telephone operators to help him provide more effective command and control of the two-million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, 223 American women deployed to France to assist him. They took the oath of enlistment, were subject to military discipline, and wore Signal Corps, unit, and rank insignia on their uniforms.  However, at the end of the War, the Army informed them that they were actually considered to be civilian contractors, not soldiers, and were not entitled to any veterans’ benefits.  This injustice was not corrected by Congress until 1977, when only a handful of the Hello Girls were still alive.  In 2024, Congress passed legislation awarding the Hello Girls a Congressional Gold Medal.  The medal is currently being designed. This dedication event is made possible by the Doughboy Foundation and the Volunteer Corps at the Museum. We hope you can attend this historic event, either in person or via Zoom! "They are real soldiers." -- General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, inspects a contingent of the Hello Girls U.S. Army SIgnal Corps Female Telephone Operators unit in 1918.

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The Doughboy Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit funded by philanthropic contributions. Our mission is to keep the story of WWI in the minds of all Americans, so that the 4.7 million who served in the Armed Forces, and how WWI changed America, will never be forgotten. Stay Connected with The Doughboy Foundation through our Social Media Channels