Hilda Van Brunt Abbott (1896–1985): World War I "Hello Girl"

 

Hilda Van Brunt Abbott and Gravesite

 

Hildegarde “Hilda” Van Brunt was born on July 26, 1896, in Alameda County, California​. Her parents were William Rogers Van Brunt and Juliette Louise Sellier Van Brunt, who are also buried in this plot. Hilda grew up bilingual – her mother was French-born, which later proved invaluable. In California, she received an education and was attending college when World War I broke out. Fluent in French and English, she answered the U.S. Army’s call for bilingual telephone operators in 1918. This decision would take her from the West Coast to the battlefields of Europe.

During World War I, Hilda Van Brunt served as one of the pioneering “Hello Girls,” the first women officially sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps as telephone operators. After a brief training in San Francisco, she sailed for France in April 1918 as part of the second unit of women sent overseas. Stationed in cities like Tours and later near the front, she wore the Army Signal Corps uniform and an operator’s armband, connecting calls between American and French military commands. Her fluency in French made her an asset – she not only swiftly connected calls (often in under 10 seconds, far faster than untrained soldiers) but also acted as a translator on the line. Hilda and her fellow operators endured long hours and occasional danger from bombardment, handling millions of calls that coordinated troop movements and contributed significantly to the war effort​. She later recalled knowing in advance about the Armistice and joining in the celebrations when the war ended in November 1918​. After the Armistice, Hilda stayed on in Europe, serving with the American Peace Commission during the Versailles negotiations, and finally returned to the United States in 1920.

WWI "Hello Girl" poster

Back home, Hilda resumed her personal life. She married William Latham Abbott Jr. in the early 1920s and settled in Wisconsin, first in Oshkosh and later in the Milwaukee area​. Around this time, she also returned to college to finish her degree​. Hilda and William had two children – a son and a daughter​. Her son, William L. Abbott III, went on to serve in the U.S. military during World War II (thankfully, he was never deployed overseas)​. As a young wife and mother, Hilda balanced family life with a spirit of service and community involvement.

In her later years, Hilda Van Brunt Abbott became a respected community leader in Milwaukee. She managed the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin for 26 years, retiring from that post in 1964​. She remained active in veterans’ and women’s service organizations; in fact, she gave an extensive oral history interview in 1983 as part of the Women’s Overseas Service League’s efforts to preserve the memories of World War I volunteers​. Notably, Hilda was among the “Hello Girls” who fought for decades to be recognized as veterans. Upon returning in 1919, the women were initially denied veteran status and benefits – the Army classified them as civilian contractors despite their oaths and uniforms. It was not until 1977, nearly 60 years after their service, that Congress passed legislation to retroactively acknowledge the Hello Girls as official World War I veterans​. Hilda lived to see this honor; she was in her 80s when she finally received her long-awaited discharge papers and recognition for her service. She died in Milwaukee on December 18, 1985, at the age of 89​, one of the last surviving Hello Girls.

Sources: Find a Grave, Michigan State Univ Archives, WisPolitics.com, WisconsinLife.org, Green Bay Press Gazette, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel