The 6888th Postal Battalion

You may have heard of the 6888 Postal Batallion.  During WW2, this troop of all Black Women was sent to Europe and assigned the monumental task of sorting a backlog of mail that was intended for front line troops and for the folks back home. In that era, with no cell phone technology, and no internet, snail mail was the only way that people could determine the status of their loved ones.

The women who were sent to straighten out the mess worked around the clock, sorting mail.  They managed to clear out a backlog of 6 months of mail - 17 million individual pieces of mail - by working around the clock, 7 days a week. The job was completed in 3 months.  After cleaning up this backlog in Buckingham, England, they were sent on to Rouen and Paris, France where they cleared up even more backlogged mail.

When the war was over, the women quietly disappeared back into their lives.  While friendships remained, their work was largely forgotten by not only the people who sent them there, but also by the people who direcly beneffited from their work. Their own families did not know what they did in the war.

This past summer, I visited the 6888 Memorial at Leavenworth Army Base.  I wanted to pay my respects to these remarakable women who made such a difference in the lives of so many with basically no recognition until they were honored with Congressional Gold Medal in 2022. The actual medal presentation took place on April 29, 2025. (That's 80 years after the fact.)  

If you want to find out more about the 6888 Postal Battalion, I have included several links at the bottom of this post.

In the meantime, a handful of pictures from the 6888 Memorial:

The front of the Monument.
On the back is the list of every woman who served in the 6888.

A little closer up view of the words on the right.

And of the words on the left.

The actual Congressional Gold Medal.
I got to see it in person (and even hold it) when I met the daughter
of Indiana Hunt Martin (6888 Member) earlier this year.
What an absolute honor to have met her and heard the stories
that her mother had shared with her.

Resources:

Truman Library Institute: https://www.trumanlibraryinstitute.org/6888th-battalion/

The National Archives: https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2022/02/08/no-mail-low-morale-the-6888th-central-postal-battalion/

The National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/6888th.htm

The VA News: https://news.va.gov/102004/six-triple-eight-women-to-receive-congressional-gold-medal/

Arlington National Cemetery: https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Search/Post/11048

Book: No Better Time, by Shelia Williams

Movie: The 6888, a Netflix Original.