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43 Army Hist. 1 (1997-1998)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0043 and id is 1 raw text is: ARMYHISTORY THE PROFESSIONA L DULLETIN OF ARMY HISTORY PB-20-98-I (No. 43) Washington, D.C. Fall 1997/Winter 1998 A Telephone Switchboard Operator with the A3.RE in France @1 homas Sage Wyman A rude cultural shock awaited the frst contnge t of Amencans wh landed in e Unitd States entcredW WrdWarVIi Aprl 1971A siph telephone call by A i Co I W n B rea w oa Majr J n l'mIours wouldt hve be relayed hrough Fren h swibboard q r qw the following result: 1dhe, this is Colonel Wilson and I wt to speak to Major Johnson in Tours rardonje ne comprends pas. Rip . dI vous plai7 I said Major Johnson in Tours and hurry up. Mosiweur, quel es, Xe nom, s-Y vaus plait Look damit. Don't you understand? I want.. The hard truh dwnd quickly I t orin land. members of Anenica's are ore needd b oua It I pone oper ators sinpy o cnnme with one another. The nation's effecuveness as a uni ed miilia force in France depended on findind1g Americans who spoke French and who could ope rae the telephone switchboards. But even before switchboard operators could be reenuied, the American Expeditionary Forces ( A.E F.) had toexpand he serously defiient French telephone and telegraph system; At home, Amencans were rely ingT i4gly on theh p ho htd 14 telephones per 100 persons. while the French had only 1. : e hone per l0 people. Moreover,by thetine the AI. arnved. telephone and telegrph facnii es n Frn wre r .I lyo d y dmeE' r qu r nmes adby the A ied armies already mn the coun y, Thus a priority task for the A F F i upon it a 1ival In France was forcthe .S. Army Signl Corns to assess the situation and begin instlin nw p lI and singing wire This was an immense project By the end of the war the Sinal Corps had instaled i724 miles of new permanent pole lines and had sorung throughout France over 22oX nia o n w wie on both e xiting French pole lines and newly installed Amencan poles. In additionahe SigM~dCorps operated admaint'ind so'e 12 )Onil ofwir Ieased o the Ai n icanshy the French and operatcd a nther 15 0O miles of wire that were maintained by the French. The installation of ihi new poi i and the 1s ging of thousands of mile of new wi wre immense under- takings. This feat was possible only because the Bell Sy'm quiCkly rde avilbIi. 1 I Si Corps enough of its own exprinend linemen to iat twelve banabons. Oncer .is work was wel undei wayitw p we n- hial to find experienced bilingual telephone swItch board operators to assure ihat the expanding system operated smoothly.Tramned Ameri i it'r pirson- nel were not available and bilngual French operators were deemed inadequate, S~o the ALF. commander, General John J. Pershing, requested that women opera- tors from America who could speak French be re- in i imediately to fil the m il ry'. crying needs instead of trying to train men of the Signal Corps. Pershing later commented in his memoirs that consid- esable doubt prevailed among Lm 11b s f hissa as to the wisdom of operating the sytem with women. buihe nbservedt aso shed a h nrae ic yaegof outehphn w me e pprnit. No ci iltelepho ni ce ttev r uam in y observation exceled the prfct i on ol our s after it was well established The Signal Corps was eharg d wth finding he women, and It quickly turned to the Ameian T le-

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