Seventy-nine years after their unprecedented service in World War II, the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the only all-Black Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps unit to serve in Europe during the war — received one of the nation’s highest honors two years after then-President Joe Biden signed a proclamation clearing the way for the award.
The women, known as the Six Triple Eight, were bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony Tuesday at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall. “These heroes deserve their dues,” U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, Democrat of Wisconsin, told The Associated Press Monday.
Formed in 1944 as pressure grew to include Black women in overseas military operations, the 6888th was tasked with solving a massive wartime mail crisis. More than 7 million U.S. troops, Red Cross workers and government personnel stationed in Europe were relying on mail to stay connected with loved ones back home.
By early 1945, the Army estimated a backlog of roughly 17 million pieces of undelivered mail — some dating back years. The Army’s solution was a newly created battalion of 855 Black women led by Maj. Charity Adams, who would later become the highest-ranking Black woman in the Army during the war.
The unit deployed to Birmingham, England, in February 1945 and immediately went to work sorting an estimated 65,000 pieces of mail per eight-hour shift around the clock, using a system of locator cards to track service members and their units.
The battalion was given six months to do the job. They finished the job in about three months, clearing the backlog and restoring morale to soldiers desperate for word from home.
“They kept hollering about wanting us to go overseas,” Maj. Fannie Griffin McClendon said. “So I guess they found something for us to do: take care of the mail. And there was an awful lot of mail.”
The women then were deployed to Rouen, France, and later to Paris, where they continued their mission while also investigating widespread mail theft and dealing with racism, sexism and the trauma of burying fellow soldiers killed in a tragic vehicle accident — funerals they paid for themselves when the War Department refused.
Despite their success and high praise from fellow service members, the women of the 6888th returned to a country still unwilling to properly acknowledge their service. They received standard medals issued to most who served, but no special commendation.
That began to change in the 1980s as their story slowly resurfaced through reunions, books, museum exhibits and documentaries. A monument was erected in their honor in 2018 at Fort Leavenworth, and they received the Meritorious Unit Commendation in 2019. In 2022, Congress voted unanimously — 422-0 — to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the unit.
“It’s overwhelming,” McClendon, who lives in Arizona, told the AP after the vote. “It’s something I never even thought about.”
Biden signed the bipartisan bill the following year. “That really shows how long this recognition took,” said Kim Guise, senior curator at the National WWII Museum. “It is really important to recognize the accomplishments of these women and what they went through to serve their country in wartime.”
The medal is a posthumous tribute for most of the battalion’s 855 members. Only two are still alive today – Anna Mae Robertson, 104, and McClendon, 101, who later joined the Air Force after military integration and became the first woman to command an all-male Strategic Air Command squadron.
In addition to the medal and previous honors, their story is now part of popular culture. Netflix has a feature film titled “The Six Triple Eight,” directed by Tyler Perry and starring Kerry Washington.
The Associated Press and BlackPressUSA.com provided this report.
