Hello Girls

During World War I, the U.S. military leaned heavily on the expertise and employees of the Bell System, headed by AT&T. "Ultimately," writes Raines, "the Bell System provided twelve telegraph battalions to the war effort (numbered 401 to 412) that served at the army and corps levels. Each unit comprised men drawn from a regional company. The 406th Telegraph Battalion, for example, contained employees from Pennsylvania Bell, while the 411th came from Pacific Bell."

Meanwhile, the war effort also called upon the services of large numbers of women, quaintly referred to as "Hello Girls." Some 200 of them served as telephone operators on switchboard in England and France.