What This Bill Does
Congress awards a single Congressional Gold Medal to the female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps, known as the "Hello Girls." The bill honors these women for their military service during World War I, their dedication to their duties, and their 60-year fight to be recognized as soldiers and receive veterans' benefits.
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Who It Affects
The female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps who served during World War I and their descendants. The bill also involves the Secretary of the Treasury, the Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Mint.
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Key Provisions
- The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate must arrange for a single gold medal to be awarded to honor the "Hello Girls" for their pioneering military service, devotion to duty, and their struggle for recognition. (Sec. 3(a))
- After the gold medal is awarded, it goes to the Smithsonian Institution for display and research. (Sec. 3(c))
- The Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal available at locations associated with the Army Signal Corps, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, the U.S. Army Women's Museum, and the National World War I Museum and Memorial. (Sec. 3(c)(2))
- The Secretary of the Treasury can create and sell bronze copies of the gold medal to cover the costs of making the medals. (Sec. 4)
- Costs for the medals come from the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and money from selling bronze copies goes back into that fund. (Sec. 6)
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What Changes
The "Hello Girls" receive official federal recognition through a Congressional Gold Medal. A medal is created and housed at the Smithsonian Institution, where it will be displayed and made available for research. Bronze copies can be produced and sold to the public.
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Important Definitions
- **Hello Girls**: Female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps during World War I
- **Congressional Gold Medal**: A single gold medal awarded by Congress to honor distinguished service
- **National medals**: Medals that fall under federal law regarding national medals (chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code)
- **Numismatic items**: Objects of value to collectors, in this case the gold and bronze medals
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
S. 815
AN ACT
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the female tele-
phone operators of the Army Signal Corps, known as
the ‘‘Hello Girls’’.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
2
† S 815 ES
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hello Girls Congres-
2
sional Gold Medal Act of 2024’’.
3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
4
Congress finds the following:
5
(1) On April 6, 1917, the United States de-
6
clared war against Germany. As a historically neu-
7
tral nation, the United States was unprepared to
8
fight a technologically modern conflict overseas. The
9
United States called upon American Telephone and
10
Telegraph (referred to in this section as ‘‘AT&T’’)
11
to provide equipment and trained personnel for the
12
Army Signal Corps in France. AT&T executives in
13
Army uniform served at home under the provisions
14
of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act for making further and
15
more effectual provision for the national defense,
16
and for other purposes.’’, approved June 3, 1916
17
(referred to in this section as the ‘‘National Defense
18
Act of 1916’’), which allowed for the induction of in-
19
dividuals with specialized skills into a reserve force.
20
(2) When General John Pershing sailed for Eu-
21
rope in May of 1917 as head of the American Expe-
22
ditionary Forces (referred to in this section as the
23
‘‘AEF’’), he took telephone operating equipment
24
with him in recognition of the inadequacy of Euro-
25
pean circuitry and with the understanding that tele-
26
3
† S 815 ES
phones would play a key role in battlefield commu-
1
nications for the first time in the history of war.
2
(3) From May to November of 1917, the AEF
3
struggled to develop the telephone service necessary
4
for the Army to function under battlefield condi-
5
tions. Monolingual infantrymen from the United
6
States were unable to connect calls rapidly or com-
7
municate effectively with their French counterparts
8
to put calls through over toll lines that linked one
9
region of the country with another. The Army found
10
that the average male operator required 60 seconds
11
to make a connection. That rate was unacceptably
12
slow, especially for operational calls between com-
13
mand outposts and the front lines.
14
(4) During this time, in the United States, tele-
15
phone operating was largely sex-segregated. Hired
16
for their speed in connecting calls, women filled 85
17
percent of the telephone operating positions in the
18
United States. It took the average female operator
19
10 seconds to make a connection.
20
(5) On November 8, 1917, General Pershing
21
cabled the War Department and wrote, ‘‘On account
22
of the great difficulty of obtaining properly qualified
23
men, request organization and dispatch to France a
24
force of women telephone operators all speaking
25
4
† S 815 ES
French and English equally well.’’. To begin, Gen-
1
eral Pershing requested 100 women under the com-
2
mand of a commissioned captain, writing that ‘‘All
3
should have allowances of Army nurses and should
4
be uniformed.’’.
5
(6) The War Department sent press releases to
6
newspapers across the United States to recruit
7
women willing to serve for the duration of the war
8
and face the hazards of submarine warfare and aer-
9
ial bombardment. These articles emphasized that pa-
10
triotic women would be ‘‘full-fledged soldier[s] under
11
the articles of war’’ and would ‘‘do as much to help
12
win the war as the men in khaki who go ‘over the
13
top.’ ’’. All women selected would take the Army
14
oath.
15
(7) More than 7,600 women volunteered for the
16
100 positions described in paragraph (5), and the
17
first recruits took the Army oath on January 15,
18
1918.
19
(8) Like nurses and doctors at the time, female
20
Signal Corps members had relative rather than tra-
21
ditional ranks and were ranked as Operator, Super-
22
visor, or Chief Operator. When promoted, the
23
women were required to swear the Army oath again.
24
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† S 815 ES
(9) Telephone operators were the first women
1
to serve as soldiers in non-medical classifications,
2
and the job of the operators was to help win the
3
war, not to mitigate the harms of the war. In pop-
4
ular parlance, they were known as the ‘‘Hello Girls’’.
5
(10) Signal Corps Operators wore Army uni-
6
forms and Army insignia always, as well as stand-
7
ard-issue identity disks in case of death, and were
8
subject to court martial for infractions of the mili-
9
tary code.
10
(11) Unbeknownst to the women operators and
11
their immediate officers, the legal counsel of the
12
Army ruled internally on March 20, 1918, that the
13
women were not actually soldiers but contract em-
14
ployees, even though the women had not seen or
15
signed any contracts. Military code allowed only for
16
the induction of men, and the code remained un-
17
changed despite the orders of General Pershing.
18
Nevertheless, legal counsel also recognized that the
19
National Defense Act of 1916, which allowed for the
20
induction of members of the telephone industry of
21
the United States into the Armed Forces, imposed
22
no gender restrictions.
23
(12) Four days later, on March 24, 1918, the
24
first contingent of operators began their official du-
25
6
† S 815 ES
ties in France. The operators arrived before most in-
1
fantrymen of the Armed Forces in order to facilitate
2
logistics and deployment and spent their first night
3
in Paris under German bombardment.
4
(13) After the arrival of the operators, tele-
5
phone service in France improved immediately, as
6
calls tripled from 13,000 to 36,000 per day.
7
(14) The Army quickly recruited, trained, and
8
deployed 5 additional contingents of female Signal
9
Corps operators. With these personnel, the number
10
of calls increased to 150,000 per day.
11
(15) In addition to standard telephone oper-
12
ating, bilingual Signal Corps members provided si-
13
multaneous translation between officers from France
14
and officers from the United States, who were com-
15
municating by telephone.
16
(16) The AEF fought their first major battles
17
in the last 2 months of the war. By that point, the
18
Signal Corps considered the contributions of women
19
to be so essential that, in telephone exchanges clos-
20
est to the front line, the Army exclusively used
21
women, in rotating 12-hour shifts. In the rear, the
22
Army established rotating 8-hour shifts and gave
23
male soldiers the overnight shift when telephone
24
traffic was slower.
25
7
† S 815 ES
(17) Seven bilingual operators—
1
(A) served at the Battles of St. Mihiel and
2
Meuse-Argonne under the immediate command
3
of General Pershing;
4
(B) staffed the Operations Boards through
5
which orders to advance, fire, and retreat were
6
delivered to soldiers in the trenches, to artillery
7
units on alert, and to pilots awaiting orders at
8
French airfields; and
9
(C) were awarded a ‘‘Defensive Sector
10
Clasp’’ for the Meuse-Argonne operation.
11
(18) The Chief Operator supervising the Hello
12
Girls, Grace Banker of Passaic, New Jersey, was
13
awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Out of
14
16,000 eligible Signal Corps officers, Banker was
15
one of only 18 individuals so honored.
16
(19) Thirty additional operators received special
17
commendations, many signed by General Pershing
18
himself, for ‘‘exceptionally meritorious and con-
19
spicuous services’’ in ‘‘Advance Sections’’ of the con-
20
flict.
21
(20) The war ended on November 11, 1918. As
22
of that date, 223 female operators served in France
23
and had connected 26,000,000 calls for the AEF.
24
8
† S 815 ES
(21) The Chief Signal Officer of the Army Sig-
1
nal Corps wrote in his official report 2 days after
2
the date on which the war ended that ‘‘a large part
3
of the success of the communications of this Army
4
is due to . . . a competent staff of women opera-
5
tors.’’.
6
(22) After the war ended, some women were or-
7
dered to Coblenz in Germany for the occupation of
8
that country and to Paris for the Paris Peace Trea-
9
ty of 1919 to continue telephone operations, some-
10
times in direct support of President Woodrow Wil-
11
son.
12
(23) Two operators, Corah Bartlett and Inez
13
Crittenden, died in France in the service of the
14
United States and were buried there in military
15
cemeteries with military ceremonies. Those operators
16
died of the same influenza pandemic that killed more
17
soldiers of the Armed Forces than combat oper-
18
ations.
19
(24) Women of the Army Signal Corps were in-
20
eligible for discharge until formal release. Because of
21
their role in logistics, those women were among the
22
last soldiers to come home to the United States. The
23
last Signal Corps operators returned from France in
24
January of 1920.
25
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† S 815 ES
(25) Upon arrival in the United States, the
1
Army informed female veterans that they had per-
2
formed as civilians, not soldiers, even though opera-
3
tors had served in Army uniform in a theater of war
4
surrounded by men who were similarly engaged.
5
(26) Despite the objections of General George
6
Squier, the top-ranking officer in the Signal Corps,
7
the Army denied Signal Corps women the veterans’
8
benefits granted to male soldiers and female nurses,
9
such as—
10
(A) hospitalization for disabilities incurred
11
in the line of duty;
12
(B) cash bonuses;
13
(C) soldiers’ pensions;
14
(D) flags on their coffins; and
15
(E) the Victory Medals promised them in
16
France.
17
(27) For the next 60 years, female veterans, led
18
by Merle Egan from Montana, petitioned Congress
19
more than 50 times for their recognition. In 1977,
20
under the sponsorship of Senator Barry Goldwater,
21
Congress passed legislation to retroactively acknowl-
22
edge the military service of the Women’s Airforce
23
Service Pilots (referred to in this section as
24
‘‘WASPs’’) of World War II and ‘‘the service of any
25
10
† S 815 ES
person in any other similarly situated group the
1
members of which rendered service to the Armed
2
Forces of the United States in a capacity considered
3
civilian employment or contractual service at the
4
time such service was rendered’’.
5
(28) On November 23, 1977, President Jimmy
6
Carter signed the legislation described in paragraph
7
(27) into law as the GI Bill Improvement Act of
8
1977 (Public Law 95–202; 91 Stat. 1433).
9
(29) The Signal Corps telephone operators ap-
10
plied for, and were granted, status as veterans in
11
1979.
12
(30) Only 33 of the operators who had returned
13
home after the war were still alive to receive their
14
Victory Medals and official discharge papers, which
15
were finally awarded in 1979.
16
(31) One of the women, Olive Shaw from Mas-
17
sachusetts, returned to the United States after the
18
war, where she worked on the professional staff of
19
Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers. Shaw lived to
20
receive her honorable discharge and was the first
21
burial when the Massachusetts National Cemetery
22
opened on October 11, 1980. Shaw’s uniform is on
23
display at the National World War I Museum and
24
Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.
25
11
† S 815 ES
(32) Upon receipt of her honorable discharge at
1
a ceremony in her home in Marine City, Michigan,
2
‘‘Hello Girl’’ Oleda Joure Christides raised the paper
3
to her lips and kissed it. The only thing Christides
4
ever wanted from the Federal Government was a
5
flag on her coffin.
6
(33) On July 1, 2009, President Barack Obama
7
signed into law Public Law 111–40 (123 Stat.
8
1958), which awarded the WASPs the Congressional
9
Gold Medal for their service to the United States.
10
(34) For their role as pioneers who paved the
11
way for all women in uniform, and for service that
12
was essential to victory in World War I, the ‘‘Hello
13
Girls’’ merit similar recognition.
14
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
15
(a) AWARD
AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the
16
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore
17
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the
18
award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of
19
appropriate design in honor of the female telephone opera-
20
tors of the Army Signal Corps (commonly known as the
21
‘‘Hello Girls’’), in recognition of those operators’—
22
(1) pioneering military service;
23
(2) devotion to duty; and
24
(3) 60-year struggle for—
25
12
† S 815 ES
(A) recognition as soldiers; and
1
(B) veterans’ benefits.
2
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the
3
award described in subsection (a), the Secretary of the
4
Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall
5
strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and
6
inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
7
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.—
8
(1) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the gold
9
medal under subsection (a), the medal shall be given
10
to the Smithsonian Institution, where the medal
11
shall be available for display, as appropriate, and
12
made available for research.
13
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of
14
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should
15
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1)
16
available elsewhere, particularly at—
17
(A) appropriate locations associated with—
18
(i) the Army Signal Corps;
19
(ii) the Women in Military Service for
20
America Memorial;
21
(iii) the U.S. Army Women’s Museum;
22
and
23
(iv) the National World War I Mu-
24
seum and Memorial; and
25
13
† S 815 ES
(B) any other location determined appro-
1
priate by the Smithsonian Institution.
2
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
3
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in
4
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 at a price
5
sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor,
6
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
7
SEC. 5. NATIONAL MEDALS.
8
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this
9
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title
10
31, United States Code.
11
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections
12
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals
13
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic
14
items.
15
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
16
SALE.
17
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
18
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
19
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
20
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under
21
this Act.
22
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the
23
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section
24
14
† S 815 ES
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public
1
Enterprise Fund.
2
Passed the Senate September 24, 2024.
Attest:
Secretary.
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
S.
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]