“Somewhere in England, Maj. Charity E. Adams,…and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell, …inspect the first contingent of Negro members of the Women’s Army Corps assigned to overseas service.” 2/15/1945. NARA ID 16214.
Women’s Auxiliary Corps Captain Adams drills her company 5/1943. NARA ID 531334.
“The negro WAC battalion’s first parade on the continent. Rouen, France.” 5/27/1945. NARA ID 175539237
Black Female WWII Unit Gets (Congressional) GOLD!
WWII’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs
“Tech. Sgt. Tommye Berry, Acting 1st Sgt. of the Negro WAC group” 4/16/1945. NARA ID 535929.
The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was signed into law by President Roosevelt and set to active duty status on July 1, 1943, but this group did not include Black women. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Civil Rights icon Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (see: related Tumblr post) advocated for the inclusion of Black women who were eager to contribute to the war effort.
Finally, approval was gained, volunteers enlisted, and the battalion trained at Fort Oglethorpe, GA. In February 1945, the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (the self-proclaimed “Six Triple Eight”) deployed - becoming the only all-Black, all-female unit to serve in Europe in WWII. They were led by Major Charity Adams, the highest-ranking Black woman in the US Army during WWII.
The 6888th organized and sorted mail for delivery to U.S. soldiers in Europe. They worked around the clock, fighting not only the mail backlog but also racism, sexism—and the Third Reich.
On March 14, 2022, President Biden signed a bill into law to award the women of the 6888th Battalion a Congressional Gold Medal “in recognition of their pioneering military service, devotion to duty, and contributions to increase the morale of personnel stationed in the European theater of operations during World War II.” Award ceremony date TBA.
The 6888th by the numbers:
855 - # of Black women in the 6888th
3 - # of months it took them to clear a 6-month backlog of mail.
3 separate 8-hour shifts, 7 days a week - work hours.
65,000 - # of pieces of mail processed per shift
17 million - # of pieces of mail processed by the conflict’s end.
77 years - # of years wait for these women to be honored by Congress
The 6888th faced overflowing warehouses stacked with letters and packages for anxiously awaiting GIs. The women of the 6888th knew the importance of such connections to the soldiers and embraced as their motto: “no mail, low morale.” Facing huge volumes of “undeliverable” mail, they developed a tracking system using 7 million servicemember ID cards to correctly route the letters and package.
“The women of ‘Six Triple Eight’ confronted warehouses stacked to the ceiling with letters and packages. These buildings were unheated and dimly lit, the windows blacked out to prevent light showing during nighttime air raids. Rats sought out packages of spoiled cakes and cookies,”the Army said.
Example of the backlog of vast quantities of Christmas mail en route to American soldiers.” NARA ID 111-SC-197654.
“WACs sort packages, taken from the mail sacks by French civilian employees, at the 17th Base Post Office. Paris, France.” NARA ID 175539203.
Continuing legacy of the 6888th:
The 6888th returned to the United States in February 1946 and was disbanded without any public appreciation or official recognition of their work. However, their accomplishments led the General Board, United States Forces European Theater, to note in their December 1945 study of the Women’s Army Corps: “[T]he national security program is the joint responsibility of all Americans irrespective of color or sex” and “the continued use of colored, along with white, female military personnel is required in such strength as is proportionately appropriate to the relative population distribution between colored and white races.”
11/30/2018: monument in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas was made in their honor.
2/25/2009: The 6888th women were honored Arlington National Cemetery’s Women in Military Service for America Memorial.
“Post exchange officer serves the first Coca Cola to Major Charity Adams at the grand opening of the WAC battalion’s new snack bar. Rouen, France.” NARA ID 175539159.
President Obama greets Alyce Dixon, the oldest living Black American WW2 veteran, in the Oval Office, 10/27/2014. NARA ID 176552374.
On This Day in Herstory, November 11th 1865, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, doctor, and the first US Army female surgeon, was the first woman awarded the Medal of Honor. To date, she is the only woman to have been given the military decoration; 1 woman and 3,521 men have received this award.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was born November 26th 1832 in Oswego, New York; she and her siblings were raised in a very progressive manner for the time. She was very well educated, and from a young age she would read her father’s medical texts; this interest lead to her enrollment and graduation from Syracuse Medical College, she was the only woman in her class. She married a fellow medical student, Albert Miller, just before she turned 23. Her wedding defied tradition, she wore a short skirt with trousers underneath, would not include the word “obey” in her vows, and she retained her last name. The couple set up a medical practice in Rome, New York, but had little success, as female doctors were not trusted at the time. She and Miller later divorced due to his infidelity.
In 1861 with the start of the American Civil War, Walker volunteered as a nurse, working as the Patent Office Hospital in Washington, D.C.; she then began to work in the battlefields, in tent hospitals. In fall 1863 she was appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland. Unfortunately, not too long after, in April 1864 she was captured and imprisoned by the Confederate Army; and was released in August of that year. Shortly after her release she received a contract as an “acting assistant surgeon,” and began supervision a hospital for women prisoners and then an orphanage. She retired from her government service in June 1865, and on November 11th of that year she was awarded the Medal of Honor for Meritorious, in recognition of her courageous war efforts. Today, 153 years later, Walker remains the only female Medal of Honor recipient.
After the Civil War, Walker lectured on issues such as dress reforms and women’s suffrage. She became infamous for her objections to a traditional female wardrobe. She wrote in 1871, “The greatest sorrows from which women suffer to-day are those physical, moral, and mental ones, that are caused by their unhygienic manner of dressing!” She strongly disagreed with long skirts and petticoats, not just for their discomfort and the wearer’s limited mobility, but also for their collection and spreading of dust and dirt. By 1861 her regular ensemble was trousers with suspenders under a knee-length dress with a tight waist and a full skirt. She believed that women’s clothes should “protect the person, and allow freedom of motion and circulation, and not make the wearer a slave to it.” In February 1870 Walker was arrested in New Orleans and mocked by the police because she was dressed “like a man.” The arresting officer twisted her arm and asked her is she had ever had sex with a man. She was released from custody when she was recognized at Police Court.
Regrettably, in 1917 the U.S. government changed the criteria for the Medal of Honor and withdrew Walker’s medal, though she continued to wear it. She died two years later on February 21st 1919. 60 years after her death in 1977, Walker’s Medal of Honor was posthumously restored.
Lilian Bader (18 February 1918 – 13 March 2015) was one of the first Black women in the British Armed Forces. She was a trailblazer for women in the military despite the obstacles she encountered on account of her Barbadian heritage.
After being orphaned and living in a convent for most of her youth, she enlisted in the army at the start of World War II, only to be dismissed when it was discovered that her father had not been born in the UK. Two years later, when West Indians were allowed to join, she enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, eventually becoming a Leading Aircraft Woman and corporal. After the war, she dedicated her life and career to teaching.
