By Christina Gray
More than 50 years after she died and was buried in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, Irma Rameline Armanet received a military headstone in a ceremony honoring her service and that of other ‘Hello Girls.’
Armanet was one of 223 women who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as critically needed bilingual telephone operators at the request of General John J. Pershing. The U.S. military needed skilled operators fluent in English and French to improve communications between the leaders of American and French armies. The elite corps of trained operators handled more than 250,000 calls per week between 1917 and 1919 and became known as Hello Girls.
Director of Cemeteries Monica Williams told Catholic San Francisco that veteran groups have been working for years to recognize the Hello Girls for their service. Despite their critical role during the war, the women were largely forgotten at the end of it despite their skills, military training, and the consequential nature of their work. The Army didn’t recognize the Hello Girls as servicewomen or veterans of the war until 1977. In 2024, President Joe Biden signed the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for the Hello Girls.
The Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance Project and Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery jointly organized the Feb. 7 military honor service to recognize the Hello Girls buried there. They include Jeanne Bouchet, Martha Mary Carroul, Jeanne Catherine Victoire Legallet, Marguerite “Rita” Mahoney, Margaret Genevieve Olker, Lawrence Helen Pechin, Marie Louise Catherine Ruffe, and Armanet, who for reasons unknown was buried without a marker.
Armanet was born in France and moved to the United States in 1912. She was selected in 1918 among thousands of applicants to join the Fourth Group of Signal Corp telephone operators for the U.S. Army. She would serve in the American Expeditionary Forces until 1919, after which she returned to San Francisco, became a U.S. citizen and started a successful business here. Local pastor Father Tom Martin, associate vicar for clergy for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, blessed the headstone made for Armanet.
“As a cemeterian, it is always a delight for me to encounter an untold story in our cemetery,” said Williams in her introductions to those gathered, including descendants. “What a privilege and pleasure it has been for our entire staff to be involved in telling the stories of the eight Hello Girls who are here at Holy Cross, and especially to be able to honor Irma Armanet with the placement of a veterans headstone, long overdue.”
The Hello Girls have been the subject of books, documentaries, and plays, said Williams. The Ross Valley Players, a theatre group in Kentfield, have a current production of “The Hello Girls” running through March, she said. Some of the cast traveled to the cemetery for the ceremony and sang for it, she said.
Williams noted that cemeteries are much like libraries because they hold the stories of our communities, of our loved ones, and one day, of ourselves.
“Here at Holy Cross, it is our privilege and sacred honor to hold the stories of the nearly 400,000 people resting in our care,” she said.“We thank the members of the Hello Girls Military Honors and Remembrance project for all the work they have done to ensure that the stories of the these women are recognized.”
Christina Gray is the lead writer for Catholic San Francisco.
