Merle Egan Anderson
Merle Egan Anderson (born Merle Egan, Smith Center, Kansas c. 1888, died 1984)[1][2] was a member of the United States Army Signal Corps' Female Telephone Operators Unit during World War I. She is one of the first 447 female veterans of the U.S. Army.[3] She is credited for persisting in the effort to gain the Operators Unit veterans' status, which was eventually awarded by President Jimmy Carter, in 1979.[4][5]
Egan in uniform, 1918
She volunteered as a long-distance telephone operator working for Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company in Helena, Montana.[6] After the war, she married and moved to Seattle.[3]
See also
References
Sources
- Cobbs, Elizabeth (2017). The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-97147-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Ashley Mattingly (June 24, 2015), The Hello Girls Finally Get Paid, National Archives and Records Administration
- Senior Master Sgt. Jerry Hanes (March 2, 2007), "Hello girls set stage for women in the military", Malmstrom Air Force Base news (online), United States Air Force
- Gavin, Lettie (1997). American Women in World War I: They Also Served. University Press of Colorado.
- Signal Corps Regimental History, United States Army, November 20, 2013
- "Merle Egan Anderson: Montana's "Hello Girl"", Women's History Matters (blog), Montana Historical Society , November 11, 2014
- Elizabeth M. Collins (March 2014), "World war I's Hello Girls: paving the way for women in the U.S. Army", Soldiers (magazine), United States Army
- "Merle Egan Anderson "The Spirit That Prompted Overseas Service"", Carry On, Women's Overseas Service League, 66–69, p. 59, 1986
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