The

The The

The Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast.

So this is a first for the podcast for two reasons. First is we have the largest number of guests to appear on the show thus far for this particular discussion. And second, we're going to talk politics.

So no need to groan.

Yes, we are talking modern politics, but this is for a good reason.

This episode is a call to action for America's first women soldiers.

The call to action is this. For listeners of this podcast located in the United

States, it is time to take political action and ask our Congress members to award the

Congressional Gold Medal to the Hello Girls of World War I. When the United States sent millions

of her dole boys over there to fight on the World

War I battlefields of Belgium and France, we also sent over 223 American women soldiers as well.

These were not nurses or ambulance drivers assigned to dangerous work both near and well behind the front.

These were the U.S. Army's first women soldiers,

assigned as battlefield tactical communication specialists close to the battlefront.

Their skills were absolutely critical to the conduct of the American Expeditionary Forces Combat Operations.

These Hello Girls were also quite literally the connection to diplomatic dialogue between the American Command and its allies,

as well as a vital link to the AES logistical operations as well.

When these brave women returned to the US well after the First World War ended, their vital

role was quickly forgotten and their efforts to be recognized ignored for decades. The Hello

Girls were finally recognized as U.S. Army soldiers in the late 1970s, with some of the last

survivors receiving their discharge forms in 1979.

...