Interview of Hildegarde Abbott on her service in the U.S. Signal Corps during WWI

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Description:

Hildegarde Abbott talks about her service as a "Hello Girl" telephone operator in the U.S. Signal Corps during World War One. Abbott reminisces about her training, other women in the Corps, her duties, life in France, socializing with soldiers, making candy, writing letters for the wounded in the military hospital, dating officers, having the flu during the epidemic and doing things the nurses didn't have time to do, all in addition to her telephone duties. She says that she got her sixty-dollar-a-month job because the Army needed French speaking women to use the duel French/American telephone systems and to serve as interpreters. She recalls knowing in advance when the Armistice would be signed but not being able to talk about it and then celebrating when the war was finally over. After the war, Abbott says that she served with the Peace Commission overseas and finally returned to the U.S. in 1920. At home she married, finished college, started a family and she says visited France later in life when her son was teaching there. Abbott is interviewed by Jane Piatt and Mary C. Burnham.

Date Issued:

1983-05-13T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project

Place:

France

Subject Topic:

Military life, World War, 1914-1918, Veterans, Women veterans, World War, 1914-1918, World War, 1914-1918, Participation, Female, Telephone operators, World War, 1914-1918, Translating and interpreting, and Defense information, Classified

Subject Name:

Abbott, Hildegarde, 1896-1985, United States, Army, Signal Corps, United States, and Army

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, and Personal narratives, American

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5r12v