Back Our Girls over There

Date1918

Artist Clarence F. Underwood (American painter and illustrator, 1871–1929)

Illustration CitationWorld War I poster for United War Work Campaign and YWCA

MediumCommercial lithograph

Dimensionssheet: 27 5/16 × 20 1/2 in. (69.4 × 52.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1978

Object number1978-384

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPRINT

Label TextTwo years before women had the constitutional right to vote, switchboard workers at the French frontline served as "Hello Girls," as American soldiers called them. They were an indispensible part of General John J. Pershing's forces in Europe. Pershing was the first to link soldiers in the field with their command center by telephone.

Clarence Underwood's massing of armed troops and the firestorm in the background emphasizes the critical service of the Hello Girls. Fluent in French and English, the women were trained by the Bell Telephone Company. In 1979, the U.S. Army finally gave war medals and veteran benefits to the few Hello Girls who were still alive

Clarence Underwood studied at the Art Students League and at the Academie Julian in Paris. He illustrated for many popular magazines. He created this poster to raise money and awareness for the Young Women's Christian Association and its alliance with the United War Work Campaign, a coalition of several organizations dedicated to the war effort during World War I.