Posted on Mar 25, 2022
“No mail, low morale”: Black Women’s Army Corps unit earns Medal of Honor for World War II service overseas
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“No mail, low morale.”
When the largest unit of African American women to serve overseas in World War II arrived in Birmingham, England, in 1945, that was the motto driving the mission: Distribute backlogs of morale-boosting letters to the forces fighting fascism.
In their overwhelming success, the 855-member 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the “Six Triple Eight” — would change American history by furthering the rights of all Black women service members.
During Women’s History Month and in time for National Medal of Honor Day on March 25, the members of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit now have a Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military honor — for their wartime service from February 1945 to March 9, 1946. The mostly posthumous tribute — a few members of the unit survive, in their 90s — came about following President Joe Biden’s signing into law of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2022 (S. 321) on March 14.
Facing racial disparities in which female units could serve overseas
According to background on the bill in the Feb. 28 Congressional Record, when the WAC was formally established in 1943, White women received more opportunities to serve the war effort abroad, and several White female units went to Europe.
Although Black females earned the right to be admitted into the WAC as officers and enlisted personnel (in part a credit to the advocacy of National Council of Negro Women founder Mary McLeod Bethune and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt), they were largely denied the ability to serve overseas. (Despite facing racism and official and unofficial segregation, 6,520 Black women eventually served in the WAC and its predecessor auxiliary corps.)
African American organizations urged the War Department to give these Black female units the chance to do more. However, with the exception of small units of Black nurses who contributed to the war effort in Africa, Australia and England, the Six Triple Eight became the only other African American women battalion to be approved to go overseas, according to the Congressional Record.
Beating expectations in mail delivery
Arriving in England, the unit confronted warehouses bursting with millions of pieces of undelivered mail intended for the 7 million U.S. civilian and military personnel driving across the European Theater of Operations (ETO), according to the Congressional Record.
“Army leadership estimated it would take between six months and a year to clear the backlog of mail,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat of Colorado and one of the bill’s sponsors, on the House floor. “The women of the Six Triple Eight did it in three months.”
They accomplished this by creating a mail sorting process and filing system to track individual service members. The unit organized undeliverable mail, determined the intended receipt for insufficiently addressed mail and figured out how to handle mail for deceased service members. Working in three, eight-hour shifts for seven days a week, the Six Triple Eight processed 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, clearing the backlog in about 90 days.
The unit then went to Rouen, France, and worked through another backlog of mail going back as many as three years. The unit distributed an estimated 17 million letters and other mail.
In addition to having a Medal of Honor for their service, the unit previously received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
The new law specifically recognizes the Six Triple Eight for their pioneering military service and devotion to duty and for contributing to the morale of everyone stationed in the ETO. After being designed by the Treasury Department, the medal will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and at other suggested locations and made available for research. The law allows duplicates to be made and sold.
Learn more
Download the law (P.L. 117-97): https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ97/PLAW-117publ97.pdf
Read Biden’s statement on signing S. 321: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2022/03/14/bills-signed-h-r-2545-and-s-321
Review all actions on S. 321: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/321/actions
When the largest unit of African American women to serve overseas in World War II arrived in Birmingham, England, in 1945, that was the motto driving the mission: Distribute backlogs of morale-boosting letters to the forces fighting fascism.
In their overwhelming success, the 855-member 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — the “Six Triple Eight” — would change American history by furthering the rights of all Black women service members.
During Women’s History Month and in time for National Medal of Honor Day on March 25, the members of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit now have a Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military honor — for their wartime service from February 1945 to March 9, 1946. The mostly posthumous tribute — a few members of the unit survive, in their 90s — came about following President Joe Biden’s signing into law of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2022 (S. 321) on March 14.
Facing racial disparities in which female units could serve overseas
According to background on the bill in the Feb. 28 Congressional Record, when the WAC was formally established in 1943, White women received more opportunities to serve the war effort abroad, and several White female units went to Europe.
Although Black females earned the right to be admitted into the WAC as officers and enlisted personnel (in part a credit to the advocacy of National Council of Negro Women founder Mary McLeod Bethune and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt), they were largely denied the ability to serve overseas. (Despite facing racism and official and unofficial segregation, 6,520 Black women eventually served in the WAC and its predecessor auxiliary corps.)
African American organizations urged the War Department to give these Black female units the chance to do more. However, with the exception of small units of Black nurses who contributed to the war effort in Africa, Australia and England, the Six Triple Eight became the only other African American women battalion to be approved to go overseas, according to the Congressional Record.
Beating expectations in mail delivery
Arriving in England, the unit confronted warehouses bursting with millions of pieces of undelivered mail intended for the 7 million U.S. civilian and military personnel driving across the European Theater of Operations (ETO), according to the Congressional Record.
“Army leadership estimated it would take between six months and a year to clear the backlog of mail,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat of Colorado and one of the bill’s sponsors, on the House floor. “The women of the Six Triple Eight did it in three months.”
They accomplished this by creating a mail sorting process and filing system to track individual service members. The unit organized undeliverable mail, determined the intended receipt for insufficiently addressed mail and figured out how to handle mail for deceased service members. Working in three, eight-hour shifts for seven days a week, the Six Triple Eight processed 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, clearing the backlog in about 90 days.
The unit then went to Rouen, France, and worked through another backlog of mail going back as many as three years. The unit distributed an estimated 17 million letters and other mail.
In addition to having a Medal of Honor for their service, the unit previously received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
The new law specifically recognizes the Six Triple Eight for their pioneering military service and devotion to duty and for contributing to the morale of everyone stationed in the ETO. After being designed by the Treasury Department, the medal will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and at other suggested locations and made available for research. The law allows duplicates to be made and sold.
Learn more
Download the law (P.L. 117-97): https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ97/PLAW-117publ97.pdf
Read Biden’s statement on signing S. 321: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2022/03/14/bills-signed-h-r-2545-and-s-321
Review all actions on S. 321: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/321/actions
Military History
Women in the Military
Honor
Medal of Honor
Heroes
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 22
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Author needs to learn that a Congressional Gold Medal is not the "Medal of Honor" and is not "the nation’s highest military honor"
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MSG Thomas Currie
SMSgt Anil Heendeniya - Thank you. I have been trying very very hard not to say exactly that.
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SMSgt Anil Heendeniya
MSG Thomas Currie
Thomas, I'm sure you'd agree that there's absolutely NO POINT trying to reason with a moron due his or her brain's inability to reason, but they're still marginally better than imbeciles and idiots on the low end of the IQ scale. Nevertheless, all three belong to a group nobody would want to be included in.
That said, I think most people would have a far more intelligent conversation with their dogs than they would with a moron, which would prompt us to have the good sense to ignore him.
Thomas, I'm sure you'd agree that there's absolutely NO POINT trying to reason with a moron due his or her brain's inability to reason, but they're still marginally better than imbeciles and idiots on the low end of the IQ scale. Nevertheless, all three belong to a group nobody would want to be included in.
That said, I think most people would have a far more intelligent conversation with their dogs than they would with a moron, which would prompt us to have the good sense to ignore him.
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SSG William Strong
this is what I read in the ARTICLE : "During Women’s History Month and in time for National Medal of Honor Day on March 25, the members of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit now have a Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military honor — for their wartime service from February 1945 to March 9, 1946. The mostly posthumous tribute — a few members of the unit survive, in their 90s — came about following President Joe Biden’s signing into law of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2022 (S. 321) on March 14."..... is the RP article wrong and the MOH was NOT issued ????
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