Meet World War II’s only all-Black, all-female Army battalion

(NewsNation) — In February 1945, more than 800 Black women of the U.S. Army 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “the SixTripleEight,” were sent to work in warehouses in England and France to help bring hope to the front lines. They were the only Black, all-female battalion sent overseas during World War II.

Six Triple Eight was led by Maj. Charity Edna Edam Earley, who was the first African-American woman commissioned into the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. 

The battalion lived up to their motto: “No Mail, Low Morale.”

The women sorted mountains of mail and packages stacked to the ceiling. Over the course of three months, they perfected their process by setting up three eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, according to The National World War II Museum. At peak efficiency, they processed for delivery over 65,000 pieces of mail per shift.

By war’s end, it added up to 17 million pieces of mail delivered to seven million troops in the European Theater of Operations. Some of that mail had gone undelivered for up to three years.

By March 1946, the unit had returned home. Some of its members stayed in the military, while others used the GI Bill to earn college degrees. They became teachers, bankers, nurses and civil rights activists.

Seventy-five year later, the Six Triple Eight began receiving recognition.

On Nov. 30, 2018, a monument was dedicated in their honor at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas by the Army Historical Foundation.

On Feb. 20, 2019, Dr. Mark T. Esper, secretary of the Army, awarded them the Meritorious Unit Commendation for Meritorious Service during Military Operations from Feb. 15, 1945 to March 4, 1946.

On March 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation to award the 855 women of the Six Triple Eight the Congressional Gold Medal. Four months later, Romay Catherine Johnson Davis, the oldest surviving battalion member, received her medal at age 102.

During a ceremony in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, Colonel Eries Mentzer, the first Black woman to command Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, got emotional as she thanked Davis and the Six Triple Eight for paving the way for more Black Americans to serve.

“You opened the door for more opportunities for Black women in the Army, the armed forces and America. you opened the door for me. I humbly follow in your path,” Mentzer said during her speech.

Davis stayed pretty busy following her service. She worked as a tailor in New York, earned her black belt while in her 70s, and worked at a grocery story in Montgomery in her 80s, before she retired at age 101.

Kerry Washington, Oprah Winfrey and Susan Sarandon are among the star-studded cast in the upcoming “Six Triple Eight,” written and directed by Tyler Perry.

Perry shared a first look at the film Thursday and said “To honor the long-ignored worth of the 6888 has been the greatest privilege of my career thus far.”

Perry teased the project in an August 2022 interview with Variety, saying that his next movie would be set during World War II and feature “some incredible people that were overlooked for years.”