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The Women of the

6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Parade honoring Joan d'Arac

Rouen, France

May 27, 1945

On May 15, 1942 the Women's Auxillary Army Corps (WAACs) was formed, and in July 1942, the word "auxillary" was dropped from the name, and the Women's Army Corps (WACs) was formed giving women full military benefits like their male counterparts. THE 6888TH WAS NOT an All-Black or an All-African-American unit. The 6888th was a multi-ethnic unit that was predominantly Black with at least one Puerto Rican and Mexican woman. This is a change from what we have been writing and saying for years. Recently, the committee became aware of this mistake. The second oldest 6888th veteran still with us is 102-year-old PFC Crescencia Garcia is Puerto Rican and knew others in the unit. We also know that there was at least one Mexican member whose two daughters confirmed this. NOTE: It is recognized that during that time the Army, not FDR,  designated the unit as "Colored" or "Negro" the more acceptable term for our race at the time.. The unit was active from 1945 to 1946 and consisted of 855 women under the Command of Major Charity Adams, Captians Mary F. Kearney and Bernice G. Henderson. Their nickname was “Six-Triple Eight" and their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale.” See list of 800 plus names in this site.

LTC Charity Adams, Oral History, 1990

6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
Women of Distinction, Dedication, and Determination

The 6888th consisted of all African-American women who were assigned to Birmingham England, Rouen, France and Paris, France during World War II. Their mission was to clear several years of backlogged mail in the European Theater of Operations.  They worked in cold, dirty, dark rat infested aircraft hangars with broken windows. Additionally, 7,500 pieces  of mail were addressed to Robert Smilth and some just to Junior, US Army. 

Anna Mae Robertson, The “Six Triple Eight”

A interview with PFC Anna Mae Wilson and her daughter Janice Banyard on the history of the 6888th

Newspaper Article- Anna Mae Robertson (2

Thank each of you for visiting our website. We hope that you will find it informative, enlightening and worth sharing with family, friends, classmates, and on social media.

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Review the 800 plus names provided in this site to see if a relative’s name is or is not there. These are all we could locate of the original 855.

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Eagle Video Productions, Inc
Marking History YouTube Channel

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