I've thought more about this and am starting to think you might be right.

 

As you noted, I took it from the stand point of if these are not the "Hello Girls", then who are they?

 

According to various websites, the only other large cadre of women to serve with the US Army in World War I were the Army Nurse Corps.  However, I cannnot find photographs showing the nurses wearing such uniforms in training.

 

The other, remote possibility is that this was a state or local militia unit.  Believe it or not there was actually some gawd awful thing called America's Women's Death Battalion, apparently formed in Massachusetts. It was named after units formed in Czarist Russia.  A photo exists of women enrolled in this American unit, but they are so rag tag they do not appear to be to the same standards as those in your photo.  In fact, they look so unkempt I don't even want to post it here.  https://nypost.com/2018/11/12/the-mighty-women-of-world-war-i/#1

 

I considered whether these could have been the female Marines that were recruited late in the war, but the NCO chevrons do not appear to be a USMC rank.

 

Lastly I considered the possibility of a post WWI, interwar years organization.  I did a quick read through of the book Women in the Military by Jeanne M. Holm, and apparently as far as the Army was concerned, there were no such organizations.  (Although there were studies made about future organizations for women either within the Army or attached to it as an auxillery as the later WAACs were.)

 

I also considered whether this was a CCC unit for women.  While such organizations existed (sometimes referred to as "she-she-she" units), they apparently did not wear military style uniforms.  These WWI style uniforms would have been out of fashion by the time the CCC was formed in any case. 

 

Your note about "the girls went thru a very short military training (several weeks) course- to learn self defense, wearing of gas mask ,etc." is something I had not yet run across.  This would certainly be the type of clothing you would want for that.  The use of military rank really threw me off, but it may have been discontinued at a later date.

 

So, if these indeed are Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators, this is a rare photograph.  I've searched all over the internet looking for a similar on.  I even searched using "Camp Franklin" as a filter, and nothing similar came up.

 

It makes me wonder if this was the first class of these Operators, and if the subsequent second and third groups also had to endure the same training? 

 

The missing link here is when the decision was made to change from Army regulation OD uniforms to the blue uniforms.  Interestingly, a lot of the official accounts of these women slavishly repeat that they wore uniforms identical to the Army.  As we agree, in the end, they did not, but somehow this is being missed in these accounts.

 

So, for now, let's assume we have a valid premise that these are very possibly the Hello Girls in training.  We will have to see if someone else comes up with an alternate theory.

With regard to quasi-military women's units form this period, I am attaching an article (in two pieces due to snip tool limitations - sorry about the small size) written in 1915 that describes a women's regiment called the Columbians raised in the NY City. I have seen other articles about this unit going out for a week of summer training in the field. The uniform described in the attached article is similar to the one in your photo. I have also seen another Columbian's uniform description that mentions a "soft shirt". I am not saying your photo is the Columbians; I am merely calling attention to the fact that there were uniformed women's units in that period that wore similar uniforms, so you have to be very careful with any ID you associate to this photo. There were many more organized women's military units in the years 1870 - 1916 than anyone today imagined existed.

 

 

GWB 123, I have seen the photo you mentioned concerning a  women's death battalion. Without being able to find any other evidence concerning the photo below or any info of a US version of a death battalion, I had taken it in the past as a group of young ladies wearing their Boyfriends or family members hat,  Jacket or coat for fun and someone with a little historical imagination added a story line to the photo. They look rather unkempt to say the least.

 

On 10/1/2021 at 8:50 PM, Renegade said:

gwb123, I did find this reference today concerning uniforms of the "Hello Girls":

 

Uniforms for Operators

Telephone operators are needed for duty abroad with the American forces; young women who are physically fit, who speak both French and English fluently, and who are willing to be sent abroad.

It is preferred they should have had experience in telephone switchboard operating, but opportunity to learn this will be offered in case an insufficient number apply who are skilled in both telephony and French.

The women selected will have uniforms of the same olive-drab as worn by officers and men in the army. The unit of telephone operators now being organized is the only unit composed of women which will actually wear army insignia.

The uniform will include the army campaign hat, with the signal corps hat-cord, a long olive- drab cape, a medium-length coat on the same general lines as the present army service coat, an English walking-skirt, and tan shoes.

The salaries offered range from fifty dollars for substitutes, sixty dollars for local operators and toll operators, and seventy-two dollars for supervisors, to a hundred and twenty-five dollars for chief operators, plus, in each instance, rations and quarters as accorded army nurses.

Transportation will be furnished from their homes to Washington, and of course from Washington to the point abroad to which they will be sent.

-- Telephone Engineer Management, February 1918, p. 91

 

 

This reference does give some credibility that the photo might be of a group of "Hello girls". If it is actually Grace Banker and the first group to go overseas- they might have actually been issued OD army uniforms to begin with and later issued the blue uniform we commonly see.

Getting back to identifying the originally posted photo, and following up on and reinforcing Renegade's two posts in this thread in which he notes the possible temporary use of the OD uniform, I noticed several relevant things in one of the websites cited in the responses (https://www.gjenvick.com/index.html).   

The first was the memo from the Army’s Chief Signal Officer which establishes the origins of the olive drab uniform for the “Hello Girls” and the fact that it was a proposed uniform and not yet approved.

Here is the quote from the memo:
“The uniform will be made of Olive Drab material, the same as that worn by officers and enlisted men of the United States Army. The uniform will consist of campaign hat, with Signal Corps hat cord, long Olive Drab cape, medium length coat, with of course, the necessary modifications, on the same general line as the present army service coat with English walking skirt and tan shoes.

 

The above uniform has been proposed but has not been officially accepted [my emphasis]. However, it is thought that it will be accepted, with a few minor changes. This will be the only unit composed of women Which will actually wear Army insignia.”

The second comes from an article written by Grace Banker, “I Was a Hello Girl” (1977) and another from the Bell Telephone News (1918).  Both indicate that the blue uniform was directed by the Army War College, then acting as the strategic planning arm of the Army General Staff.

Describing the departure of the 33 women in “Hello Girls” unit 1, Grace Banker wrote “March 6—sailing at last! Thirty-three Signal Corps girls in the trim navy- blue uniform and smart overseas cap prescribed by the Army War College at Washington.” [my emphasis]

The Bell Telephone article states similarly, “Every member of the organization must wear a standard uniform that has been specified by the War College.” [my emphasis]

I suspect the decision to adopt the blue uniform was made to underscore that the “Hello Girls” were not soldiers, as the originally proposed OD uniform might indicate, but civilians – something that took 60 years and Congressional action to correct. There does appear to have been a good deal of legal wrangling in the War Department on this point with the "letter of the law" being accepted at the time.

In the rush to get the AEF to France, many actions were initiated before final decisions were made with the understanding they would be corrected later.  This was done to meet the necessarily tight timelines for getting the AEF into the field.  This occurred with a large number of issues as the U. S. geared up for war. I suspect that the temporary use of the OD uniform was just one of those actions.

This suggests to me that the photo shows the 33 women of “Hello Girls” Unit 1 in the Signal Corps’ proposed uniform while in training before deployment and prior to the War College’s decision on the final uniform. The OD uniform in the photo was an expediency to get the effort going and meet General Pershing’s requirements.

If that turns out to be true, the photo could be one of possibly very few that show the first unit of the “Hello Girls” and the wearing a very short-lived uniform. This, in my view, makes it even more interesting considering the historical relavance.

 

Dennis
 

The original photo has an X over one of the women. Is there a woman's name on the back of the photo?

 

I was able this morning to find a shot of the back of the photo (post card). It is a post card dated May 25th, 1918. This would indicate the photo at least is dated to be taken prior to that date. I have attempted to decipher the hand writing - it reads:

 

There is another cross above another Ill. (Illinois) girls head. Everything going fine. But we are so busy when not drilling. Am glad I came for it means more then I ever can tell .

Love - W. C. Cutter

 

 

Please correct me if you believe I have read the note wrong. 

 

 

 

 

So this raises a few points and obviously more questions. 

Does the Washington DC post mark indicate a mailing from overseas ??

From my understanding of post cards of the era, some were made as a sole representation to send to love ones (as in studio photos/post cards) and others were made in bulk to be purchased at a PX (or other) for ease of sending a note home and not necessarily an indication that the sender has a close personal connection to the photo on the post card.

From the statement of a cross over a Ill. girls head - I would assume a girl she new had passed away and was in the same unit- ( Spanish Flu, accident or? ).

The name W.C. Cutter I could not find on any roles of those names sent on overseas assignments as a "Hello girl". Having said that- Some 233 were sent overseas but apparently 450 went through training. Perhaps W.C. Cutter was not selected for overseas but did go thought the training.

        

         Of approximately 1,750 applicants, the Army trained 450 women, and 233 ultimately sent overseas to serve as telephone operators. Colloquially dubbed "Hello Girls," these women were primarily stationed in England and France (and Germany after the Armistice was signed); some were stationed to work on the front lines in locations such as Saint Mihiel and Souilly, France.

Susan Thompson, CECOM Command Historian, "Hello Girls of World War 1," 27 March 1920. https://www.army.mil/article/234046/hello_girls_of_world_war_i Retrieved 26 March 1921.

 

The note also mentions she spent time drilling, that would indicate that the sender was more likely in the military versus a Community organization like the red cross or YWCA, etc.

 

As mars and suspenders mentions there appears to be a faint x above one of the girls, this might be the sender or it may have been on the original photo before being copied onto a post card?

 

A couple of more clues- it appears two of the women have some sort of bright color insignia. The women in front and one of the three in the very back.

 

 

 

The two with the insignia and one other woman ( cant see her left collar) also in the back row are wearing  jackets while all the others appear to be wearing standard issue shirts only. The three women wearing jackets and the one with the first sergeant stripes would again indicate a rank structure confined to the army versus a community service organization. 

 

 

 

The Photo below shows a uniform that closely resembles the one being worn by three of the women (one in front and two in back). It does differ in the shape of the collar and a insignia added to the top of the shoulder and a different band around the base of the sleeve. Also the insignia in the original photo found on the shirt collar and here a insignia is on the jacket (unable to tell if the insignia is the same). This is from the Smithsonian website. It lists the uniform as being a "Uniform of Major on Staff and Supervisor of Instruction". The title of "supervisor of Instruction" could be possible for the photo in question for the three individuals, but I am unaware of the exact meaning of "Major on staff". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

52 minutes ago, Renegade said:

 

The Photo below shows a uniform that closely resembles the one being worn by three of the women (one in front and two in back). It does differ in the shape of the collar and a insignia added to the top of the shoulder and a different band around the base of the sleeve. Also the insignia in the original photo found on the shirt collar and here a insignia is on the jacket (unable to tell if the insignia is the same). This is from the Smithsonian website. It lists the uniform as being a "Uniform of Major on Staff and Supervisor of Instruction". The title of "supervisor of Instruction" could be possible for the photo in question for the three individuals, but I am unaware of the exact meaning of "Major on staff". 

 

I think the full title for the uniform you are referring to is "Uniform of Major on Staff and Supervisor of Instruction, First National Service School".  

 

You can find the history of the uniform collection pictured here: https://womenshistory.si.edu/spotlight/women-in-wwi/women-s-uniforms

 

But to the point, the First National Service School was founded in 1916 by Elizabeth Elcott Poe and Vylla Poe Wilson in Chevy Chase, Maryland. 

 

Here is a quote describing it from this website: https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/satin-khaki-women-join-military-preparedness-movement-1916

 

"The First National Service School was founded in early 1916 by Elizabeth Elcott Poe and Vylla Poe Wilson in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The camp opened in May 1916 to great fanfare; President Wilson and high-ranking officials in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army attended the opening ceremony. For the next three years, the First National Service School held four two- to three-week camps and trained uniformed women, offering classes including "national defense," "good citizenship," and "American history." By the spring of 1919, nearly 4,000 women representing 43 states had graduated from the First National Service School. The large-scale encampments were referred to as the "female Plattsburg" movement."

 

The website article also says that "the First National Service School was organized under the auspices of the Women's Section of the Navy League" which would explain the Navy style cuff rank on the woman standing at the front of the formation in the original photo that started this post.  

 

So with that uniform connection, the photo could possibly be of a First National Service School encampment rather than "Hello Girls".

 

Dennis

I reached out to Jill Halcomb Smith, author of Dressed for Duty, Vols. 1 and 2.  When asked if these were the "Hello Girls", her reply was:

 

"Not Signal Corps “Hello Girls.” Probably members of one of the many volunteer organizations that existed during WWI, maybe even something like the National Service Schools."

 

 

It seems we have narrowed this down to a photo of women attending the national first service school. Thanks to everyone in helping to come to a consensus on the photo.

It seems that there is little info this school. Is their a decent website concerning them? THX Again!

I found these using a Google search for First National Service School:

 

National Museum of American History:  From satin to khaki: Women join the Military Preparedness Movement of 1916

 

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/satin-khaki-women-join-military-preparedness-movement-1916

 

National Archives:

 

https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2016/09/09/the-women-of-world-war-i-in-motion/

 

Local article from Colorado:

 

https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2021/04/09/think-talk-and-work-patriotism

 

Period account (Start at pg. 36)

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=XW4-AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA40&lpg=RA1-PA40&dq=First+National+Service+School&source=bl&ots=7ju8Uhl4ZI&sig=ACfU3U2jv3IrFKhqBqn49ViIfMB0Drx_Mw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7k6mho7HzAhXbX80KHUWRA1o4ChDoAXoECBsQAw#v=onepage&q=First National Service School&f=false

 

 

Thanks gwb123- I found this photo on one of the websites you noted- appears to be similar uniform and camp surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to state the obvious but I have always had an interest in this unique service.  The following is from Wikipedia

 

"Hello Girls was the colloquial name for American female switchboard operators in World War I, formally known as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. During World War I, these switchboard operators were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps.[1]

This corps were formed in 1917 from a call by General John J. Pershing to improve the worsening state of communications on the Western front. Applicants had to be bilingual in English and French to ensure that orders would be heard by anyone. Over 7,000 women applied, but only 223 women were accepted. Many of these women were former switchboard operators or employees at telecommunications companies.[1] They completed their Signal Corps training at Camp Franklin, now a part of Fort George G. Meade in Maryland."

 

"Although the term "hello girls" may have been applied to the signalling corps, it did not originate there. Rather, the term was first coined for female telephone switchboard operators in the US,[2][3]and was the common term used for women who would greet callers with "hello" when they rang the switchboard instead of dialling another telephone number directly. Published references to "hello girls" predating World War I include the following sentence from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court written in 1889: "The humblest hello-girl along ten thousand miles of wire could teach gentleness, patience, modesty, manners, to the highest duchess in Arthur's land". Another source referenced gifts that the "hello girls" received at Christmas-time from local businesses in Flint.[2]"

 

"In September 1917, as male recruits were being shipped to France, the commanders of various Army camps in the continental United States began asking for permission to build facilities to house women telephone operators to maintain their communications. Although the War Department declared that no women should be employed except nurses attached to hospitals, the Signal Corps and AT&T convinced Secretary of War Newton Baker that the highly trained, experienced women operators were essential, and barracks for women began to be built in October. To assuage public concern, Baker permitted women to be hired only when men were unavailable and ordered that the women be under constant supervision, and that they must be "of mature age and high moral character".[4]: 65–67 

The communication difficulties in France due to a shortage of switchboard operators and the language differences frustrated Pershing. Several officers in the Signal Corps proposed that they recruit bilingual American women. Agreeing, Pershing sent a November 8, 1917 cable:[4]: 69–73 

On account of the great difficulty of obtaining properly qualified men, request organization and dispatch to France of force of Woman telephone operators all speaking French and English equally well.

The initial staffing requirements specified by Pershing were 3 chief operators, 9 supervising operators, 78 local and long-distance operators, 10 substitutes, and one man (a commissioned captain) to generally supervise traffic.[4]: 69–73  Pershing was aware of the contributions women had made to the war front and had even called on female clerical workers to serve so that more men could be moved to the Front.[5] Recruiting focused on fluency in French, as that was presumed to be the more difficult qualification to meet. AT&T offered to provide telephone operating training to bilingual recruits who lacked switchboard experience.[4]: 84 

Most of the women who served ended up being from urban areas of the United States and Canada where there was more access to this technology. These women were single, well educated, and independent. The average age of employment was twenty-six, which was young for the time, but most had worked previous jobs and had at-least one foreign-born parent. Finally, they had all proclaimed the spirit of patriotism for the Allied cause before heading on their way.[6]

After training, the first operators, under the lead of Chief Operator Grace Banker, left for Europe in March 1918. Members of this unit were soon operating telephones in many exchanges of the American Expeditionary Forces in Paris, Chaumont, and seventy-five other French locations as well as British locations in London, Southampton, and Winchester.[7] The Chief Operator of the Second American Unit of Telephone Operators was Inez Crittenden of California.[8]

By July 1918, the Army telephone service in France tripled the number of calls per day due to the addition of the women operators.[4]: 159  Soon, more American-built circuits had been added to locations in France, reducing reliance on French switchboards. The Signal Corps relaxed the bilingual requirement for new women recruits.[4]: 91  In September, 1918, Pershing informed the War Department of the immediate need for 130 additional operators and for 40 more every six weeks through 1919.[4]: 205 

Chief Operator Grace Bankerreceiving the Distinguished Service Medal

The War Department was not equipped to provide housing for the women operators overseas and reached an agreement with the YWCA to take over billeting, supplies, and chaperonage for the telephone operator units.[4]: 166-170  During the Meuse–Argonne offensive, a team of telephone operators accompanied Pershing to Souilly, where they maintained communications around the clock. A YWCA secretary accompanied the team and arranged billeting for the women in an old shed that had been used to house French troops during the Battle of Verdun. Each of these operators near the front line managed 50 phone lines connected to the Army's Operations Section. As described by one of the operators:[4]: 229-231 

Every order for an infantry advance, a barrage preparatory to the taking of a new objective, and, in fact, for every troop movement, came over the 'fighting lines', as we called them.

Two days after the Armistice, the chief signal officer for the First Army stated in his official report "a large part of the success of the communications of this Army is due to...a competent staff of women operators." Thirty of the operators received special commendations, many signed personally by Pershing, and Chief Operator Grace Banker was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.[4]: 266–267 

The operators were still considered essential after hostilities ceased, with many of the women being transferred to Paris. Individual operators were gradually discharged through 1919, with the final operator being discharged on January 20, 1920.[4]: 271 

By the end of the war, AT&T had formed a labor force of women trained to work with a specific technology. Assumptions made about women in the workplace greatly affected this labor system and is most notably seen in the gendering of the job as a switchboard operator to be feminine as well as the language expected by the women who then worked this job (expecting to hear "Hello" from the "Hello Girls").[9]"

 

"

The status of the women operators in the Army Signal Corps was muddled from the start. The women were issued military uniforms and took the Army oath. However, the adjutant general of the United States sent an internal memo stating that the women were civilian employees, "authorized by contract and not by Army regulations". No contracts were ever prepared though. The Army's lawyers determined that the women were not eligible for war risk insurance because they were civilian employees.[4]: 75–81  In June, 1918, the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing war risk insurance for "women serving by official designation with the Army in the American overseas forces as telephone and telegraph operators", however that provision was deleted by the Senate.[4]: 114 

In the press, news stories declared that the Army was recruiting women, that they would be "enlisted for the duration of the war", and referred to "young women soldiers". The telephone companies said the "girl telephone operators" would be "regular army". The letter sent to potential recruits stated "This will be the only unit composed of women which will actually wear Army insignia." [4]: 83  The women were required to purchase their own kits, including uniforms, shoes, hats, and insignia, at a cost between $250 and $350, because they were told that their status was similar to officers who required individually-fitted uniforms; the monthly salary for most positions was $60.[4]: 104 

Almost immediately after the war ended, the status of the telephone operators became a matter of contention. The women attempted to obtain official discharge papers and were refused. Leading Army officers, such as General George Squier, attempted to have the operators included in the federal bonuses being granted to "all persons serving in the military or naval forces"; their efforts were spurned by the War Department which insisted that the telephone operators were civilian employees. Squier and other officers continued to seek military recognition of the Hello Girls, to no avail.[4]: 277-282 

Although they wore U.S. Army Uniforms and were subject to Army Regulations,[10] they were not given honorable discharges but were considered "civilians" employed by the military. Multiple efforts were made to obtain Congressional recognition of the Signal Corps telephone operators in the decades after the war, with at least 24 bills being introduced between 1927 and 1977.[4]: 283 Former operator Merle Egan Anderson persisted with efforts to have the operators recognized into the 1970s, by which time she was an elderly widow. Despite opposition by the Army, the Veterans Administration, and even the American Legion, the campaign by Anderson and others finally resulted in a bill passing and being signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in November, 1977.[4]: 289–301  By that time there were only eighteen of the original Hello Girls who had left for France in 1918, but they indicated no resentment toward their long-awaited victory.[5]

It took 60 years after of the end of World War I before Congress approved Veteran Status/Honorable discharges for the remaining "Hello Girls." A Hello Girl uniform is on display at the U.S. Army Signal Museum. The uniform was worn by Louise Ruffe, a U.S. Signal Corps telephone operator.[11]"

 

Recognition

In 2018, the musical The Hello Girls had its world premiere in New York City.[12] The off Broadway cast recording was released in 2019.[13][14]

As of 2021,[15] the "Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act" was still pending.[16][17]

In 2021, the children's book Grace Banker and the Hello Girls Answer the Call, written by Claudiel Friddell and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley, was published.[18]

References[edit]

^ Jump up to: a b "Malmstrom Airforce Base". Archived from the original on July 22, 2011.

^ Jump up to: a b ""Hello Girls" Not Forgotten at Flint". Bell Telephone News. 1 (7): 7. February 1912.

^ "The Agra Sentinel". No. July 10, 1913. Volume 10, No. 31. p. 4.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Hoffman, Elizabeth (2017). The Hello Girls : America's first women soldiers. Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-97147-9. OCLC 959649181.

^ Jump up to: a b Gavin, Lettie (1997). American Women in World War I: They Also Served. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-87081-432-7. JSTOR j.ctt6wrrgk.

^ Frahm, Jill (2004). "The Hello Girls: Women Telephone Operators with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 3 (3): 271–293. doi:10.1017/s1537781400003431. ISSN 1537-7814. S2CID 163116825.

^ Getting the Message Through: A Branch History of the U.S. Army Signal Corps by Rebecca Robbins Raines pg 169, available online at [1]

^ Pauline Hess, "Interesting Westerners", Sunset Monthly(June 1918): 47-48.

^ Lipartito, Kenneth (1994). "When Women Were Switches: Technology, Work, and Gender in the Telephone Industry, 1890-1920". The American Historical Review. 99 (4): 1074–1111. doi:10.2307/2168770. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 2168770.

^ Sterling, Christopher H. (2008). Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO., p.55, ISBN 978-1-85109-732-6.

^ "Hello Girls". U.S. Army Signal Museum. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2010-01-23.

^ "The Hello Girls Is a New Musical About a Real Female Army Unit in World War I". TheaterMania. Retrieved 2018-12-03.

^ Clement, Olivia (April 29, 2019). "The Hello Girls to Release Off-Broadway Cast Recording". Playbill.

^ "The Hello Girls (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)". Broadway Records.

^ Motter, Sarah (March 13, 2021). "Sen. Moran helps introduce legislation to honor "Hello Girls"". WIBW. Retrieved March 17, 2021.

^ "Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal" (PDF). United States Senate. Retrieved 26 August 2018.

^ Tester, Jon (January 24, 2019). "All Info - S.206 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Hello Girls Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019". www.congress.gov.

^ "Grace Banker and the Hello Girls Answer the Call". Kirkus Reviews. December 15, 2020.

On 4/10/2022 at 10:23 AM, Renegade said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renegade:  All of those images are magnificent!!  Are they in your collection?  Did they all come as one group?  
 

And more importantly, are any identified?  

Thank you SO much for taking to share all of them. What a great treat to view!

 

John

Jagjetta, All the photos I posted were from online sources (needless to say after many hours of searching).

Here's a photo that I think fits with this topic on the National Service School topic. Seems to have a similar uniform, and the first image at the start of this topic shows at least one woman wearing rank on her sleeve. This image was taken in Richmond, VA. No date, no name.