Women in WWI……Army or Navy

Unlike the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, it was possible for women to enlist World War 1. In 1917 both the Army and Navy recruited women into their ranks. The Navy recruits were Yeoman (F) and the Army recruits were Hello Girls.  The differences and benefits that the Navy and Army gave these women were huge.

There was a loophole in the Naval Act of 1916 which the US Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels took advantage of.  The loophole did not say that women could not enlist.  During WW1 11,000 women enlisted in the Navy as Yeoman (f). The first positions they filled were clerical but due to the large number of jobs that need to be filled ladies soon took on many other roles. These included radio/telegraph operators, shipment supervisors, fingerprint experts, pharmacists, torpedo assemblers, plus many more positions.

 The Yeoman (F)’s were valuable “Goodwill Ambassadors”. They were trained to march and present military drills. Their presences in war bond drives and troop send-offs lifted the morale of the American people. These young ladies had enlisted to serve their country and the Navy recognized them at the same level as their male counterparts. They received the same rank, pay, and medical care as their peers.

The women who were recruited into the Army had a different story to tell.  The Army had enlisted men from AT&T to work in the Signal Corps. These men managed the switch boards just fine, but when it came to communicating with the French telephone operators they were lacking. General Pershing realized that operators who spoke fluent French were needed. This meant that the Army need to hire recruit female operators from AT&T.

The women that filled these positions were called Hello Girls. These ladies believed that they had enlisted in the Army, meaning that they were true soldiers.  These ladies did not know that there was an Army regulation that stated all soldiers must be male.  None of these ladies received any benefits from the Army until 1979 when Congress recognized them as veterans.

The Navy recruits got a much better deal than the Army recruits, but in WW2 thousand of women were ready to volunteer again.

1.       https://time.com/5537784/wwi-us-military-women/