Inez Ann Murphy Crittenden (1887 – November 11, 1918) was a leader of the "

Hello Girls Hello Girls was the colloquial name for American female switchboard operators in World War I, formally known as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. During World War I, these switchboard operators were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal ...

", the U. S. Telephone Corps in France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Early life

Inez Ann Murphy was born in California, the daughter of T. P. Murphy and Emily Murphy.

Career

Inez Crittenden worked as a telephone operator in California at age fourteen. She later worked as a secretary to the president of the California Packing Corporation in San Francisco. She was one of the first women to join the United States Signal Corps, where her fluent French skills were in demand during World War I. In January 1918, she became Chief Operator, Second American Unit of Telephone Operators, in charge of hundreds of American women who worked as interpreters in war-related telephone communications. She and her unit sailed for France in March 1918. "We were among the first girls to go across, and arrangements were very sketchy in those days," recalled a member of her unit. Crittenden was soon transferred to work for the public relations bureau at the American Embassy in Paris.Elizabeth Cobbs
''The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers''
(Harvard University Press 2017): 92-93, 135-136, 272.

Personal life

Inez Murphy married Nathaniel P. Crittenden in 1911; they divorced in 1917. She was living with her mother at the time of her appointment to the U. S. Telephone Corps. Inez Crittenden died in Paris, on

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I a ...

in 1918, from pneumonia, a complication of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

. She was 31 years old. Her grave is in the

Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial The Suresnes American Cemetery ( French: ''Cimetière américain de Suresnes'') is a United States military cemetery in the Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France. It is the resting place of 1,541 American soldiers killed in World War I. A panoramic ...

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud an ...

, France. She was given a military funeral, which was unusual for a civilian telephone operator. Crittenden's ex-husband was wounded in France during the war; his family told newspapers that the two planned to be reunited after the war. Emily Murphy denied these reports."Mother Denies Reconciliation"
''San Francisco Chronicle'' (November 30, 1918): 6. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crittenden, Inez 1887 births 1918 deaths Hello Girls People from California Deaths from Spanish flu Deaths from pneumonia in France Infectious disease deaths in France