By Annette Finley-Croswhite

Until recently, few had heard of the Six Triple Eight, but in 2021 legislation was signed into law awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to the 855 Black women who made up the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion and served in World War II. Famed Film producer Tyler Perry is currently in Europe making a movie about these extraordinary women who became the first Black women the US Army posted overseas during the war. Their commander, Major Charity Adams, was also the first Black woman officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAC). The film stars Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon, and a host of others who will bring the long-forgotten story to light.

During World War II Black servicewomen were not considered for overseas assignments. This ruling changed towards the end of the war because of the work of noted Black educator Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. As a result, an all-Black female battalion was created and posted to England and then France. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion consisted of 31 officers and 824 enlisted personnel, mostly volunteers. The challenge they confronted was that situational problems associated with mail delivery had gone unchecked for up to three years during the war resulting in service personnel never receiving their mail from home. After training at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia, the women sailed for Europe on the SS Ile de France on February 3, 1945, no easy voyage given the presence of German U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean. They arrived in Glasgow, Scotland eleven days later and were transferred directly to Birmingham, England where they confronted dismal, dingy warehouses filled with mountains of mail waiting to be sorted. 

The women set to work, taking as their motto, “No Mail, Low Morale.” They understood that soldiers receiving no word from their families and loved ones during a critical juncture of wartime peril led to emotional distress. The women of the Six Triple Eight took their mission to heart, recognizing that their thoroughness and ingenuity would go a long way to restoring soldier mental fitness as American service personnel moved across Europe liberating people from Nazi oppression and receiving their letters at last. Major Adams’ commanding officers assumed it would take six months to sort through the backlog of 17 million letters. In this instance, Adams divided the women into three eight-hour shifts to create a non-stop work environment. The situation was unpleasant as the warehouses were unheated, often rat infested, and had little light as the windows were blacked out to protect against bombing raids. The tasks not only involved the creation of a sorting system but also means to track soldiers with similar names and protocols to handle the mail of those who had been killed in battle or died while serving abroad.  

Aside from the task-specific challenges, the women also confronted racism in the ranks, and their living quarters were segregated because of race. Adams also recounts having to stand up to white officers who attempted to exert superior status over her command and constantly insulted her and belittled her job performance. The dedicated servicewomen, nevertheless, finished their work in only three months.

After the job in Birmingham was complete, the battalion moved on to Rouen, France in May of 1945 to take on another backlog mail jam on the continent. An interesting photograph exists (Women of 6888) which shows the women marching through the cobblestoned streets of Rouen against the backdrop of a statue of Joan of Arc, another woman known for her military prowess, one the English burned at the stake in 1431 and who subsequently was recognized as a saint in France. The idea that the French incorporated these Black American female liberators into their annual Joan of Arc festivities in May of 1945 is certainly a testament to how much their presence was valued in the city, although living conditions were no better than in England and racism remained a persistent problem.  

In October the Six Triple Eight moved on to Paris where they stayed at the luxurious Hôtel États-Unis and continued to exert their mail-sorting prowess even with a reduced staff as many of the servicewomen in the battalion began heading home. At war’s end the Six Triple Eight received little fanfare or recognition not only for a job well done but also for holding up under the pressure of racism within the ranks. While Major Adams was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel following the war and some servicewomen used the G.I. Bill to pursue education, not all were able to do so since benefits were handled by the states and southern states among others denied those benefits to African Americans. The awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2021 was thus long overdue although few of the women remained alive to experience the recognition. The aforementioned film is thus greatly anticipated as a well-deserved historical testament to these phenomenal servicewomen.

 

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