Overlooked No More: Grace Banker, Whose ‘Hello Girls’ Decoded Calls in World War I

I recently read “The Lost Girls of Paris” which fictionalizes the true story of Vera Atkins and her Special Operations Executive spies — young female radio operators and saboteuses who were dropped into France before D-Day. It’s based on Sarah Helm’s “A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of World War Two.” I stand in awe of these women. Could I ever be that courageous?

This is an extraordinary series. But the women presented and celebrated! All of whom lived ordinary lives and likely wouldn't have been recognized walking down the street, none of whom would be known at all except within their families and in certain academic circles. Thank you!

It is somewhat disturbing that as late as 1977 both the Veterans Administration and the American Legion were opposed to giving these women veterans status. Thank goodness for President Jimmy Carter that did it anyway.

While I appreciate the New York Times' efforts to recognize women and men whose achievements were overlooked in the past, it is critical that your stories be historically accurate when you provide the larger context for the individual stories. You state: "Grace Derby Banker was born in Passaic, N.J., on Oct. 25, 1892, to William and Edith (Armstrong) Banker. Her father was an accountant. At a time when public education wasn’t widely available, Grace managed to finish secondary school and graduate from Barnard College in New York with a double major in French and history." To suggest that public education was not widely available is just plain wrong. A young woman of her class (her father was a white collar worker), living in an urban area, would certainly have been likely to finish high school. Whether she would go on to attend college is what would have been less likely. But even so, by the 1890s, there were colleges across the country admitting women -- normal schools (training teachers), public land grant universities (like Univ. of Michigan & Wisconsin), and many private colleges, including the Seven Sisters women's colleges (which included Barnard -- which Derby attended). I imagine that Derby Banker would take some offense at the statement that she "managed to finish secondary school" when it was probably an expectation in her family. It would be more accurate to say that Derby Banker was privileged to get her college degree from Barnard.

These women were brave and they were volunteers. Their work helped the Allies win World War I. Then, men blocked their recognition as veterans until Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who was a vet himself, was president. Some things never change...

Brava!

Long, long, long overdue. When will we as a nation stop the writing of history by white males only?

Thank you so much for this series. When I grew up in the 50s and 60s, heroic women seemed few and far between. Women at the front lines of war? Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, perhaps, but none more recent and none who had a role in the fight. Female scientists? Well, Marie Curie and Maria Mitchell, but no others. Female mathematicians? None. Female politicians? Oddities. As it turns out, there were plenty of heroic and pathbreaking women, so glad to be hearing about them.

When I read these amazing accounts of individual heroism, I always wonder if today's young people have any clue just how much others gave up to keep them free -- and I despair that they'd have nearly the guts it took. A good follow up to Grace Banker's obit is the book "Code Girls," which reveals the many thousands of young women who left their homes to help us win WWII, but who were, like Ms. Banker, mostly unknown and forgotten.

Talent and aptitude were and are found in both men and women. How wonderful and startling to read these obituaries finding the unsung heroes of our times. What courage she had to volunteer, to act on that advertisement, write that first letter. Noticing the roles of women, people of color, people who have been missing in these pages is a beginning. Recognizing them while they are performing there feats and making sure they have equal opportunities is still lagging behind. A belated thank you to Grace Banker and all the women who toiled to help the soldiers.

Thanks, NYT's for remembering this hero.