The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-05-16
TELEPHONE GIRLS
co OVERSEAS
They Are Serving in Important capaci.
ties as NERVES" of the Army-Gov-
eminent Shipped Over Amer
lean Material.

lean Material.
Washington, May l6.-Since the earl
days of the war women of the allie
countries have distinguished themselve
in various lines of war work. Whethe
fighting shoulder to shoulder with me-
in the Russian Battalion of Death,
, driving ambulances over shell.torn roads
nursing in military hospitals or perform
ing a thousand and one duties at home
women have taken an important part.
: However, there has been thrown opel
a new field in which the American WON
an already has demonstrated her in
finite resourcefulness, innate versatility
and racial capacity for speedy accurat,
work. The new task is that of operat
ing an American telephone exchange, oft
en- a short distance behind the trenche:
in France.
In modern warfare, the telephone has
assumed such Importance that frequent.
ly il is referred TO as the nerves of the
army. II was not TO be expected that
General Pershing's forces were to rely on
foreign system of telephone communica
ton, abandoning the more expedient
service which this nation, as a pioneer in
the field, had developed. Accordingly
vast quantities of telephone material
were taken overseas and installed by the
army signal corps. During 1917 men
operators and French women were used
for the work but neither group was sat
isfactory.
The great difficulty was procuring OPP
orators capable of speaking both French
and English, who were necessary in or
der to maintain accurate communication
between the French and American armies
In November, last year, General Pershing
called upon headquarters of the signal
corps to forward overseas as soon as pos
sible a force of 100 trained operators,
able to speak intelligently in both
tongues.
Believing it possible to obtain opera
tors with a command of both languages
in parts of the continent where there
were large French populations an effort
first was made TO fill the quota from the
French pioneers of Canada and Louis
lana. Want ads" were placed in the
French Canadian papers, but from more
than 800 applicants only six could be
considered. Then the announcement was
published in newspapers of this country,
and from 2,400 applicants there were
procured 25 experienced operators and
20 possible eligibles. At the present
time 1900 applications have been re-
ceived, and from that list the first group
of 100 was selected and sent across, $50
more are now in training schools, and a
reserve force of 400 more is on file
Under existing regulations, wives of
army officers or enlisted men are not
eligible to those units. Unauthorized
stories to the effect that wives of army
officers had found it possible to reioin |
their husbands in France by enlisting in |
the phone units caused the offices of the |
signal corps to be flooded with applica |
tions which necessarily had to be re-
jected.
Each applicants character and ability
was certified by her previous employer
before she was considered. A psycholo- |
gist gave tests to the prospective opera
tor, using methods employed by the
army in Judging qualifications of officers.
Also, since the work to be performed was
largely of confidential nature, and
would give the operators carefully guard
ed information as to troop movements,
each candidates loyalty and motive for
applying for service were investigated
thoroughly by secret service agents.
On Jan. II, the first group entered the
training schools for instructions in adj
vanced telephony. Practice was given
in the largest New York exchanges, and
was followed by short term at military
environments so that the young women
might acquire some familiarity with
military terms. Lectures were delivered
to the recruits by officers of the signal
corps, special emphasis being given to
the Importance of lines of communicate ton
in modern warfare. Talks upon person
al hygiene were given by women sur
geons.
On March the first contingent sailed
and a few weeks later American officers
in France were agreeably surprised by
hearing over the military phones opera {
tors who used American terms, gave
splendid service. and who could translate :
,he message of a French officer to an ,
American. Other groups sailed during !
March and April and were stationed in I
groups of 10 at supply depots or de-
bases 8
The uniform worn by the woman OPP !
,rators was designed and prescribed by !
he army war college. 1t consists of a 1
Dat and skirt of navy blue serge, tail. c
red shirtwaist of navy blue palm beach :
10th or similar material, and the I
traight -brimmed hat of blue felt with
he official orange and white cord of the
ignal corps. On the left sleeve of the
oat is the brassard of white whipcord r
II doeskin, bearing small devices indi-
sting the rank of the wearer-chief OPP
rstor, supervisor or operator.
1T would be almost impossible to bri- r
AIDE American troops without these a
iris" declared Captain f. j. Wesson, h
5ho recruited the unit. They are going /
o astonish the people over there by the a
fiiciency of their work. In Paris it q
axes from 40 to go seconds to complete \
ne call. Our girls are equipped to han I
lie 300 calls an hour. +
'As they assist in the giving of COM v
hands concerning artillery direction and n
alling up of reserves, they have ire
lendously responsible position. The
lorale of the unit is of the finest, and
hey did not come into il without facing u
he possibility of danger"
And. from day to day there are reach
u the war department other reports
nat show that Americas hello" girls q,
re- making good in a strange land and n
nder the most difficult and perhaps hsz- h,
-dous conditions. r.