This is the story of how America’s first women soldiers helped win World War I and fought in the U.S. Army. In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They were masters of the latest technology: the telephone switchboard. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, demanded female “wire experts” when he discovered that inexperienced doughboys were unable to keep him connected with troops under fire. Without communications for even an hour, the military would be in dire straits. These brave women were not there to relieve the suffering of soldiers (as nurses did) but to be soldiers themselves and accomplish an objective: winning World War I!