The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight“, was an all-black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The 6888th had 855 black women, both enlisted and officers, and was led by Major Charity Adams.[1] It was the only all-black, all-female battalion sent overseas during World War II.[1] The group motto was “No mail, low morale”.
| 6888th Central Postal Battalion | |
|---|---|
 Members of the Battalion in a May 1945 parade honoring Joan of Arc where she had been burned at the stake | |
| Active | 1945–1946 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | US Army |
| Role | Postal service |
| Part of | Women's Army Corps |
| Nickname | Six Triple Eight |
| Mottos | No mail, low morale |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Major Charity Adams |
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the "Six Triple Eight", was a unit of the US Women's Army Corps (WAC) that managed postal services.[1][2] The only Black and multi-ethnic WAC unit sent overseas during World War II,[3] the 6888th quickly cleared years-long backlogs of undelivered mail to troops in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). In 2019, the U.S. Army awarded the 6888th a Meritorious Unit Commendation.[4][5]
History
![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:"The_first_Negro_WACs_to_arrive_(on)_the_continent_of_Europe_were_800_girls_of_the_6888th_Central_Postal_Directory_Bn,_w_-_NARA_-_531333.jpg)
During World War II, there was a shortage of soldiers who could manage the postal service for the U.S. Army overseas.[6]
At the same time, Black leaders were calling for the Army, which enforced U.S. policies of segregation, to put Black women to better use in the war effort. In 1944, Mary McLeod Bethune persuaded First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to help secure "a role for black women in the war overseas."[7] Black newspapers, too, challenged service leaders to "use black women in meaningful Army jobs."[8]
The women who signed up went to basic training in Georgia.[7] Women who were already in the WAC, like Alyce Dixon, served at various locations, including the Pentagon, before they joined the 6888th.[9]
Led by Major Charity Adams, the 855 soldiers of the 6888th were organized into five companies: Headquarters and Companies A, B, C, and D.[10] Most of the troops worked as postal clerks, but others were cooks or mechanics or held other support positions, so that the 6888th was a self-sufficient unit.[11] The unit motto was "No mail, low morale".[12]
United Kingdom
The 6888th left the United States on February 3, 1945, sailing on the fast liner Île de France and arriving in Greenock near Glasgow[12] on February 12.[7] The Île de France encountered several German U-boats on the trip, forcing the ship to take evasive maneuvers,[13][1] but reached Scotland safely. The battalion was transported by train to Birmingham.[12] On February 15, the unit was inspected and marched in review before Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, Commanding General, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations (ETO), and Maj. Gen. Robert McGowan Littlejohn, Chief Quartermaster, ETO, whose responsibilities included the mail.
Littlejohn and the Army had failed to develop systems to efficiently handle mail sent to U.S. troops fighting in Europe. When the 6888th arrived in Birmingham, an estimated 17 million undelivered letters and packages were stored in warehouses.[14] Army officials believed the situation was hurting morale.[12]
Upon arriving, the 6888th devised their own system to handle the backlog of mail.[13] Many letters and packages had only the first name of the intended recipient, a commonly used name, or a nickname. The soldiers created and maintained a card index of people with the same or similar names, using military serial numbers to distinguish between them. The index ultimately grew to 7 million cards.[14] The 6888th worked seven days a week in three shifts.[3] Each shift handled an estimated 65,000 pieces of mail.[6]
The battalion lived and worked in temporary wooden buildings at King Edward's School in Edgbaston, which had been requisitioned in 1939 by the British War Office for use by the British and U.S. armies.[15] The unit's 32 officers lived in three houses nearby. Cold weather when they arrived meant the women had to wear coats and extra clothes when working in the unheated temporary buildings.[12]
Because the 6888th was a segregated unit, the women slept and ate in different locations from the white, male soldiers.[3] There was evidence of sexist and racist treatment by male soldiers.[14] Some of the women felt that the European local people treated them better than people did in the United States.[16][17]
Early in the operation, a general[who?] attempted to send an officer to "tell them how to do it right", but Major Adams responded, "Sir, over my dead body, sir!" By the time the same general visited the unit in France, his attitude had changed and he appreciated the 6888th's accomplishments.[7][1]
A male chaplain working at Birmingham caused problems for Adams, ordering her soldiers to report to his office to help him and be counseled instead of reporting to work, causing them to be considered absent without leave (AWOL).[10] Adams had to "counsel" him to let the women alone, "reminding him that she was in charge of the women's assignments".[10]: 158
The battalion finished clearing the backlog in May 1945, just three months into what had been supposed to be a six-month task.[13]
France
After the 6888th cleared the backlog in Birmingham, it was sent across the English Channel to Le Havre, France. It arrived on June 8, 1945, one month after VE Day. It traveled by train to Rouen to deal with another backlog of mail, some of whose letters were three years old.[12] The military police in the WAC unit were not allowed to have weapons, so they trained in hand-to-hand combat to keep out "unwanted visitors".[12] The 6888th participated in a parade at the place where Joan of Arc was executed.[13]
By October 1945, the mail in Rouen had been cleared and the 6888th was sent to Paris.[12] They marched through the city and were housed in a luxurious hotel, where they received first-class treatment.[16]
Around this time, the battalion was reduced by 300 women; 200 more were discharged in January 1946.[12]
Three soldiers from the battalion—Mary H. Bankston, Mary Jewel Barlow, and Dolores Mercedes Browne—were killed in a Jeep accident and were buried at the Normandy American Cemetery. Only one other woman is interred there, alongside more than 9,000 men: Elizabeth Ann Richardson, a Red Cross volunteer killed in a Piper Cub plane crash near Rouen in July 1945).[1]
Post-war
In total, the unit handled mail for over four million military and civilian personnel.[14] In February 1946, the unit returned to the United States where it was disbanded at Fort Dix, New Jersey.[12] There was no public recognition for their service at the time.[7]
Legacy
Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion were awarded the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal during their service.[13]
Decades passed before their unique contributions were formally recognized.
On February 25, 2009, the battalion was honored at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.[12] The event was attended by three former unit members of the 6888th: Alyce Dixon, Mary Ragland, and Gladys Shuster Carter.[12] Dixon and Ragland were also honored by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama that same year.[18]
On March 15, 2016, the 6888th was inducted into the U.S. Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame.[a] Battalion veteran Elsie Garris attended the induction ceremony.[20][21]
On November 30, 2018, Fort Leavenworth dedicated a monument to the women of the 6888th. Five women from the battalion attended the ceremony: Maybeel Campbell, Elizabeth Johnson, Lena King, Anna Robertson, and Deloris Ruddock.[22]
In 2019, the U.S. Army awarded the 6888th a Meritorious Unit Commendation.[4][5]
On May 13, 2019, U.S. Ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson presented a blue plaque to King Edward's School to commemorate the 6888th's achievements in Birmingham. The plaque is on the itinerary of guided tours organised by Birmingham's Black Heritage Walks Network.[15][23]
On February 12, 2021, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada)[14] introduced bipartisan legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the 6888th. U.S. Representative Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) introduced the companion legislation in the House, where it passed unanimously.[5] President Biden signed the bill on March 14, 2022.[14] Living members of the Battalion were honored in their hometowns.[24]
In April 2023, the U.S. Army's Fort Lee was renamed for Adams and Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg as part of the U.S. Congress' effort to undo 20th-century efforts to name U.S. government assets after figures of the Confederacy.[25] The move made Fort Gregg-Adams the only U.S. Army base named after a female Black soldier. In June 2025, President Donald Trump re-named the base Fort Lee, after Private Fitz Lee, a Buffalo Soldier and Spanish–American War veteran chosen because he shared a surname with the Confederate general.[26]
In 2024 only five members were still living: Gladys E. Blount,[27] Romay Davis,[28] Fannie McClendon,[29] Lena King,[30] and Anna Mae Robertson.[31] Only Fannie McClendon was still living as of June 2025.[32]
In popular culture
The battalion has been the subject of several film and theatre projects. In 2019, the documentary film The SixTripleEight: No Mail, Low Morale directed by historian James Theres was released. Theres suggested to Colonel Edna Cummings, who helped lead an effort to raise a monument to the unit in Fort Leavenworth, that the women should be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.[1]
In 2022, the story of the 6888th inspired a new musical, with the working title of "6888: The Musical", with Blair Underwood as executive producer.[33]
Tyler Perry wrote, directed, and produced a Netflix film, The Six Triple Eight, based on the 6888th, starring Kerry Washington as Charity Adams.[34][35] It was released in some cinemas and on Netflix in December 2024. The film received a Metacritic score of 51/100 based upon 14 reviews.[36] It was also nominated for a handful of awards including two Black Reel Awards, one Oscar, one Satellite Award, and five NAACP Image Awards.[37]
Notes
- ↑ U.S. Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame, includes partial roster by State[19]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Jennie Rothenberg Gritz (March 2023). "Women Who Shaped History: How an All-Black Female WWII Unit Saved Morale on the Battlefield". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
- ↑ "Women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion". womenofthe6888th.org. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
The 6888th was a multi-ethnic unit that was predominantly Black with at least one Puerto Rican and Mexican woman.
- 1 2 3 Boyd, Deanna; Chen, Kendra. "The History and Experience of African Americans in America's Postal Service: The 6888th: Women Who Managed the Military's Mail". Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010.
- 1 2 "Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Campaign". American Veterans Center. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
- 1 2 3 "Black female WWII unit recognized with congressional honor". NBC News. Associated Press. 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
- 1 2 Bielakowski, Alexander M., ed. (2013). Ethnic and Racial Minorities in the U.S. Military: A–L. ABC-CLIO. p. 654. ISBN 9781598844276. Archived from the original on 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Thomas-Lester, Avis (26 February 2009). "Neither Rain, Nor Racial Bias". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ↑ "Margaret E. Jones, Retired Army Major". Aiken Standard. 27 April 2000. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016 – via Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Deppisch, Breanne (2 February 2016). "Alyce Dixon, Nation's Oldest Female World War II Veteran, Dies at 108". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- 1 2 3 Earley, Charity Adams (1995). One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 157–158, 174. ISBN 978-0-89096-694-5. Archived from the original on 2023-12-22.
- ↑ 6888th Postal Battalion. ABC-CLIO. 2003. p. 363. ISBN 9781576077467. Archived from the original on 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Fargey, Kathleen (14 February 2014). "African-Americans in the U.S. Army: 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion". U.S. Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Stephenson, Lori. "Women of Courage, Tenacity & Strength". Our Heritage. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Yang, Maya (March 18, 2022). "'Long-overdue': all-Black, female second world war battalion to receive congressional gold medal". www.theguardian.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- 1 2 The Old Edwardians Gazette, Issue 303, July 2023.
- 1 2 "Mary Ragland". African Americans in the U.S. Army. U.S. Army. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ↑ Flash, Oprah; Johnston, Amy (2023-07-05). "Six Triple Eight: The battalion of black women erased from history". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
- ↑ Kruzel, John J. "First Lady Advocates for Military Women, Families in Predecessor's Mold". DoD News. U.S. Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ↑ Women of the 6888th Partial (849/855) roster by State Archived 2023-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "2016 Hall of Fame – Inductees". Army Women's Foundation. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ↑ "6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion". Army Women's Foundation. Archived from the original on 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
- ↑ "Parade honoring Joan d'Arc, Rouen, France May 27, 1945". Women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. 2019. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
- ↑ "The SixTripleEight: No Mail, Low Morale". The National WW2 Museum of New Orleans. 2021. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
- ↑ Dimanche, Kay (2022-06-04). "Surviving member of only all-Black WWII battalion unit honored". KSNV. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ↑ Gaddy, Brittany (2023-04-28). "Fort Lee renamed in honor of 2 Black US Army trailblazers". WPVI-TV.
- ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (June 11, 2025). "No, Not That Lee. Pentagon Finds Black Hero to Rechristen Base Long Named for Robert E.". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
- ↑ Mercuri, Monica. "The Inspiring True Story Behind Netflix's 'The Six Triple Eight'".
- ↑ Truesdell, Jeff (July 28, 2022). "Meet Romay Davis, 102-Year-Old Black Female Army Vet Honored with Gold Medal for Groundbreaking WWII Service". People Magazine. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Valley veteran broke down barriers and inspires today's military personnel". 12news.com. 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ↑ Jordan, Atiya (2022-02-05). "Honoring Lena King: Surviving Member of Only All-Black WWII Women's Army Corps Unit, 'Six-Triple Eight'". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ↑ Lynch, La Risa R. "Barrier breaker: Anna Mae Robertson played key role in stabilizing soldiers' morale during WWII". Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ↑ Brown, Joanna (10 June 2025). "Lafayette native is now the last living member of this all-women World War II battalion". The Advocate.
- ↑ Lang, Brent (3 March 2022). "Barrier-Breaking All-Black Female WWII Battalion Inspires New Musical From Glair Underwood". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
- ↑ Jackson, Angelique (February 16, 2023). "Tyler Perry, Kerry Washington Share First Look at Netflix World War II Film 'Six Triple Eight'". Variety. Variety Media LLC. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023.
- ↑ Ide, Wendy (22 December 2024). "The Six Triple Eight review – true story of heroic black women's battalion fails to deliver". The Observer.
- ↑ "The Six Triple Eight". IMDb.
- ↑ "Six Triple Eight". IMDb.
Further reading
- Moore, Brenda L. (1996). To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American WACS Stationed Overseas During World War II. New York City: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0814755877. OCLC 32854455.
- Demirjian, Karoun (April 29, 2025). "The Six Triple Eight: Black, Female Soldiers Honored for World War II Success". The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
- "Research Guides: 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: A Guide to First-Person Narratives in the Veterans History Project". Research Guides at Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
External links
- Women of the 6888th
- World War II – Major Charity Adams – 6888 Postal Battalion on YouTube
- Flash, Oprah; Johnston, Amy (2023-07-05). "Six Triple Eight: The battalion of black women erased from history". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
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