@pptsapper 1/Supporting the forces near the front, at Ligny, were six women, bilingual in French and English: "Hello Girls," trained and qualified telephone switchboard operators in Army uniforms and subject to Army discipline, under the supervision of Chief Operator Grace D. Banker. 
@pptsapper 2/Banker graduated from Barnard College, and had been an instructor in the Operating Department at American Telephone and Telegraph. She would be one of seven Hello Girls to receive the Distinguished Service Award at the end of the war.
@pptsapper 3/Being chosen to serve near the front was an honor. The Oct 4, 1918 issue of Stars & Stripes reported: “The only way that peace could be kept among the Signal Corps family was to promise the girls who weren’t picked…that the up-front work would be rotated as often as possible.”
@pptsapper 4/The "Hello Girls" experienced the same “discomforts and dangers” as many of the men. It was so cold that Banker's feet froze; she couldn't wear shoes. The barracks leaked & came under bombardment. The women showed “remarkable spirit and utter absence of nerves,”
@pptsapper 5/handling an average of 40,000 words a day in support of the St. Mihiel offensive.
