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 Corps unit to serve overseas during the war — have finally received one of the nation’s highest honors: the Congressional Gold Medal.
This honor, bestowed on April 29, comes two years after then-President Joe Biden signed a proclamation clearing the way for the award.
“These heroes deserve their dues,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D) of Wisconsin said. “And I am so glad their story is being told.”
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. However, 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 about 850 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 England in February 1945 and immediately went to work in Birmingham, sorting an estimated 65,000 pieces of mail per shift around the clock, using a system of locator cards to track service members and their units.
“They expected we were gonna be there about two or three months trying to get it straightened out,” recalled retired Maj. Fannie Griffin McClendon, one of only two surviving members. “Well, I think in about a month, month and a half, we had it all straightened out and going in the right direction.”
By the time they finished the job in half the projected time, they had cleared the backlog and restored morale to soldiers desperate for word from home.
The women then 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.
“They were lifelines. They surrounded the soldiers. They reminded our brave heroes of all they were fighting for, it was actually waiting back at home,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said of the group in his remarks during the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony on April 29. “Morale reports during the war underscore just how important mail was to the soldiers’ spirit, so much so that the phrase ‘No mail, low morale’ became widespread.”
Finally Receiving Just Due
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. 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 war time.”
The medal is a posthumous tribute for most of the battalion’s 855 members, as only two are still alive today, including McClendon, 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.
“They kept hollering about wanting us to go overseas,” 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.”
“It’s overwhelming,” she added. “It’s something I never even thought about.”
Edna W. Cummings, a retired United States Army colonel, led the effort to have the women recognized by the legislature. She advocated for their recognition after learning about their hardships overseas.
“They worked in austere, rodent-infested, cold warehouses with windows blacked out to prevent Nazi detection,” Cummings said of the group of women who served overseas.
While some women were killed by enemy weapons, the Six Triple Eight never veered from their goal, motivating Cummings and others to fight for their Congressional honor.
“Fortunately, the Senate Bill passed by unanimous consent during the 116th Congress,” Cummings said. “This passage gives advocates momentum to work harder to bestow this overdue recognition to these trailblazers.”