Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-12
Omaha Girl Served With us.
Phone System in France
Great Grandfather in Revolutionary Grandfather in
Civil Father in Indian and Herself in Present War,
Is Miss Wilkens' Family Record.

away" and now to return to Omaha,
is Miss Nell Wilkens, sister of Mrs.
D. E. Trumbell, 1924 North Forty
first street. who spent several hours
in Omaha Monday, on her way TO
Norfolk, Neb., where she will be
dismissed from the service.
Since August 5. the bright red
star in the service flag at the TRIM
bell home has represented the over
seas service of Miss Wilkens. who
gave up her position as assistant
telephone traffic chief at Norfolk to
enter the signal corps work of the
telephone unit.
Eighty Other Girls.
With eighty other girls she was
connected with the Palace exchange
at Paris, and she is one of the four
of these girls who have returned.
No one can appreciate America
until they have seen the alteration
of other countries and felt the en-
vironment of a foreign nation" said
Miss Wilkens, while she awaited her
train, in her sisters home on North
Forty-hrst street, and the light
that came into her brown eyes.
proved it.
"The girls have done a wonder
full work, as we'll as the men," she
continued, but those girls know,
that however brave and high spirited
our boys are, there is not one whose
greatest ambition and dream is not
in this same United States
All Girls Lived Together.
The 80 American girls, with whom
Miss Wilkens was stationed in the
Palace exchange at Paris, lived to-
gether at two of the Paris hotels.
1T was an experience that no one
could regret" said Miss Wilkens.
There we're girls of every type
among us. one woman had taught
French in New York High school
for 10 years, and others had never
thought of working before in their
lives. Yet each and every one gave
the best of their efforts through
every day of eight hours, and often
more, of cxacting, tense service.
The American Phone System.
The French people can scarcely
comprehend the American telephone
service, and indeed there is no doubt
but that it will revolutionize the
French system from now on.
AT the opening of the war, there
was not an exchange and when the
armistice was sgned. in Paris alone,
there were seven fully equipped,
we'll conducted telephone exchanges,
ready for their important work"
Miss Wilkens attended the church
on Rue de Berry, on that memorable
occasion when France did homage
to President Wilson and the Amer
lean nation and ideals for which he
stood.
Tells Of Wilson's Visit.
Never was there anything to be
compared with his reception" she
said, when King George and the
other allied leaders visited Paris, the
ovation was generous, but everyone
could distinctly hear the strains of
God Save the King that rose
above it.
"When Mr.. Wilson arrived the pa
pers mentioned the bands that play
ed The Star Spangled Banner, but
none of the crowds that thronged
to see him, could hear a note above
the tumult"
Miss Wilkens came home under
the care of a physician, for since an
accident last fall in an elevator at
Paris, which affected her nervous
system, her health has been poor.
In Paris Hospital.
She was in a hospital in Paris for
ten weeks. Besides this the air raids
that she underwent at this time in
creased her nervous trouble.
While in England, the train that
carried the party, was compelled to
stop and wait in darkness for sew
eral hours, during one of the nightly
air raids, and in Paris, September
10, warning came of the air bombing.
"The light in the sky was marvel
Gus" said Miss Wilkens, THE noise
was like that of thunder storm and
it lasted with no intermission from
100 until 400 a. Ill. but though we
all were sent to the basement, no
one was hurt"
From Omaha she goes to Norfolk,
Neb., where she received the oath
of service, and there will give up
the military uniform Of dark blue,
and the tight fitting cap that marks
the overseas costume of the signal
corps girls, for the regular dress
that goes with the every day life Of
America at home.
The Revolutionary war called for
the services of Miss Wilken's great
grandfather; the Civil war took the
life of her grandfather as its toll;
her father enlisted for service in the
Indian troubles throughout this
western land in the early days and
Miss Wilkens served her country
during the recent struggle.
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