In early 1945, as the Battle of the Bulge concluded, Army officials reported that a lack of mail was hurting morale. Warehouses were filled with millions of pieces of mail destined for the seven million Americans serving in the European theatre. The task of getting that mail to its intended recipients fell on the 6888th, nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight” Central Postal Directory Battalion.
Except for a few smaller units of nurses, the Six Triple Eight was the only all-Black unit from the Women’s Army Corps to serve overseas during World War II. Major Charity Edna Adams was selected to command the battalion and became the first Black woman to hold a commission in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.
The Six Triple Eight confronted the packed warehouses in Birmingham, England. These buildings were unheated and dimly lit, and the windows were blacked out to prevent light from showing during nighttime air raids. As it was a cold winter, they wore long johns and extra layers of clothing under their coats while working in these warehouses.
The unit members were organized into three separate shifts daily, so work continued around the clock, seven days a week. They tracked individual service members by maintaining about seven million locator cards, including serial numbers to distinguish different individuals with the same name. They dealt with “undeliverable” mail that was sent to their location for redirection. They investigated insufficiently addressed mail for clues to determine the intended recipient, and they handled the sad duty of returning mail addressed to service members who had died.
Once the immense backlog in Birmingham was gone, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sailed to France in 1945, shortly after V-E Day. They encountered another backlog of undelivered mail dating back as far as two to three years, which again would take an estimated six months to process.
While in Rouen, the 6888th experienced a tragedy. On July 8, 1945, PFC Mary J. Barlow and PFC Mary H. Bankston were killed in a jeep accident, and Sergeant Dolores M. Browne died on July 13 from injuries resulting from the accident. Because the War Department did not provide funds for funerals, the women of the 6888th pooled their resources to honor their deceased members. First Lieutenant Dorothy Scott found three unit members who had experience with mortuary work to take care of the bodies, and unit members paid for caskets. Memorial services were organized and held for the deceased, and Major Adams wrote to inform their families in the United States of their fate. Sergeant Browne, PFC Barlow, and PFC Bankston were buried with honors in the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer (there are only four women buried there).
In February 1946, the remainder of the unit returned to the United States and was disbanded at Fort Dix, New Jersey, without further ceremony. There were no parades, no public appreciation, and no official recognition of their accomplishments, although Charity Adams was promoted to lieutenant colonel upon her return to the U.S.
This is not a story about the mail. This is a story about 855 Black women, who found a way to serve when the nation needed them most. In 2019, a bipartisan effort was started to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 6888th. Both senate and house passed the measure and President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan bill on March 14.