100 Years On, The 'Hello Girls' Are Recognized For World War I Heroics

In a rehearsal space near New York's Times Square, the cast is preparing for the opening of a musical, The Hello Girls, that's been a century in the making.

"Very few people have heard this story," said Cara Reichel, director of the production that premieres off-Broadway on Nov. 13, two days after the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.

Reichel hadn't heard of the Hello Girls either, until a few years ago. Here's how she describes them:

"America's first women soldiers, the first women to serve actively in the military, who were bilingual French-English translators, who served on the front lines in World War I" as telephone operators.

So how did these brave women make it to the muddy and bloody fields of France for the war's most important battles?