Egan in uniform, 1918
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]
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]
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- Cobbs, Elizabeth (2017). The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-97147-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=tD5YDgAAQBAJ.
- Ashley Mattingly (June 24, 2015). "The Hello Girls Finally Get Paid". National Archives and Records Administration. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2015/06/24/the-hello-girls-finally-get-paid/.
- Senior Master Sgt. Jerry Hanes (March 2, 2007). "Hello girls set stage for women in the military". Malmstrom Air Force Base news. United States Air Force. http://www.malmstrom.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/349929/hello-girls-set-stage-for-women-in-the-military/.
- 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. http://signal.army.mil/old/history/history-hello_girls.html.
- "Merle Egan Anderson: Montana's "Hello Girl"". Women's History Matters. Montana Historical Society. November 11, 2014. http://montanawomenshistory.org/merle-egan-anderson-montanas-hello-girl/.
- Elizabeth M. Collins (March 2014). "World war I's Hello Girls: paving the way for women in the U.S. Army". Soldiers. United States Army. http://soldiers.dodlive.mil/2014/03/world-war-is-hello-girls-paving-the-way-for-women-in-the-u-s-army/.
- "Merle Egan Anderson "The Spirit That Prompted Overseas Service"". Carry On. Women's Overseas Service League. 1986. https://books.google.com/books?id=HqbvAAAAMAAJ.
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