DECEMBER 27, 2024 — Tears were shed and cheers erupted from Advanced Individual Training students in attendance during the screening of the film “Six Triple Eight” Dec. 10, 2024, at the Beaty Theater.
The film, directed by Tyler Perry and distributed by Netflix, tells the story of a World War II unit, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, led and commanded by Lt. Col. Charity Adams.
Fort Gregg-Adams was redesignated in 2023 in honor of Adams and Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, a longtime leader in the Army Logistics community.
Two screenings of the film were attended primarily by AIT Soldiers in advance of the movie’s release on December 20. The screening was made available by a partnership between installation leaders and Netflix.
“I loved the movie, I didn’t expect to be here at AIT and be able to watch a movie, let alone one like this,” said Pvt. Celsa Haro Vazquez. “Being a female in the Army, it’s incredible to see the women who came before us and to see that if they could endure all that they did, we can push forward too.”
U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command Chief of Staff Col. Vernon Jones introduced the movie to the crowd and CASCOM G3/5/7 Operations Sgt. Maj. Paul Ellis spoke about Adams’ military career and life.
“I wasn’t expecting to shed a couple of tears during this film,” said Pvt. Aniayah Middlebrook. “What those women had to go through makes me so grateful to see how far our Army has come.”
According to Netflix’s website, Perry was inspired to make The Six Triple Eight by a connection he made with Lena Derriecott King, a former member of the group who died at the age of 100 in January 2024.
As of King’s passing there are only two members of the 6888th Battalion remaining: Fannie McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson.
The battalion was the first and only primarily African American female unit to be deployed overseas during WWII. The unit also included Latin American, Hispanic, Caribbean and Asian Pacific Islander women.
Active from 1945 to 1946, the 6888th consisted of 855 women, of which 824 were enlisted and 31 were officers, under the command of then-Major Charity Adams. Their nickname was the “Six-Triple Eight” and their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale.”
Since only men were drafted for the war, all women serving in the Army at the time were volunteers.
Upon volunteering, the women of the 6888th underwent training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where they learned basic combat skills, such as identifying enemy ships and aircrafts, being put through gas mask training, climbing ropes, crawling under wire and completing obstacle courses, according to information from 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: A Guide to First-Person Narratives in the Veterans History Project on the Library of Congress’ website.
During their brief time at Fort Oglethorpe, many of the women faced reminders that those within the Army were not prepared to accept them as equals. The women encountered separate barracks, separate drinking fountains and many of the officers were seated last when dining within the posts Officers Club, the guide stated.
Shortly afterwards, the Soldiers boarded a former cruise ship named the lle de France on Feb. 3, 1945, for transportation to Europe. Their ship was engaged by German U-boats as they neared the British Isles and had to take evasive maneuvers for about 45 minutes, the guide stated.
After arriving safely in Glasgow, Scotland, on Feb. 11, the battalion was taken by train to Birmingham, England, that same day where the women unpacked their belongings and prepared to take on their mission.
“Upon arrival in England, the battalion was greeted by an enormous backlog of undelivered mail, and were told that it was their duty to ensure it was all delivered to the intended recipients within six months,” the guide stated. “The timely delivery of mail was essential to maintaining the morale of U.S. servicemembers.”
The women had to sort through a three-year backlog of 17,000,000 pieces of mail with a given timeframe of six months to complete the task.
Six Triple Eight Soldiers were literally working against the clock. Some of the backlogged mail was more than a year old. Furthermore, address cards used to identify military members and others in the European Theater of Operations proved inadequate to either verify addressees or keep up with the rapid pace of unit movements, according to Adams’ memoir, “One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC.”
The women were subjected to poor living and working conditions and slander spread about by male Soldiers who resented women of color being allowed into the Army.
“Members of the 6888th were sometimes forced to rely upon the hospitality of British citizens when American Red Cross facilities refused to provide hotel accommodations to African Americans,” the guide stated. “Indeed, the soldiers of the 6888th boycotted Red Cross facilities in London after the Red Cross informed Major Adams that they had designated a separate hotel for African American personnel.”
The women worked hard and did not allow distractions to affect their progress.
With their system in place, they worked around the clock by dividing their work into 8-hour shifts. On average, they were able to process 65,000 pieces of mail every shift which equaled 195,000 pieces of mail being sorted every 24 hours.
By doing this, the battalion was able to clear the three-year backlog of mail in just three months, the guide stated.
In May 1945, the battalion was relocated to Rouen, France, just days after victory had been declared over Nazi Germany. The 6888th made its final move in October 1945 to Paris.
The women of the Six Triple Eight were memorialized with a bronze and granite monument at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 2018. They also were recognized with Congressional Gold Medals in 2022.
On April 27, 2023 Adams joined Gregg as one of the new namesakes for Fort Lee when it is redesignated as Fort Gregg-Adams. The change was directed by Congress in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which required modifying or removing the names of military assets — including bases — that commemorate the Confederacy or those who voluntarily served under it.
Fort more about Lt. Col. Charity Adams and the redesignation of Fort Gregg-Addams, visit the official redesignation website.
By Ericka Gillespie