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Earlier this year, the women of the 6888th Postal Battalion Directory got a step closer to finally receiving the recognition they deserve. The Senate passed legislation to award the only all-Black Women’s Army Corps (WACs) deployed overseas during World War II the Congressional Gold Medal. The “Six Triple Eight” self-contained postal unit completed the seemingly impossible task of tackling the mail backlog during the final months of the war. Now, activists are pushing the House to move on the legislation to make the recognition official.
The spotlight on the “Six Triple Eight” has sparked increased interest in the African American female military experience during World War II. But the successes of this unit are only a part of a much bigger story. The reality was that the battalion represented only 855 out of approximately 6,500 Black women who served in the U.S. WACs from 1942 to 1945.
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The Black WACs rarely, if ever, were recognized for their service by the American public when they returned to civilian life. If we were to rely only on the biggest newspapers of the time, one would think that Black female soldiers did not make any meaningful contributions to the war effort. Thankfully, we have the archives of the Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier and other Black press outlets that regularly documented their achievements.
The majority of the more than 5,600 remaining Black women who served during World War II never left the United States mainland. Promised nursing and medical technician training, these women signed up in droves. “Urgent! More nurses needed now – All women can help!” read varying headlines in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Charlotte Observer and the New York Daily News. The accompanying articles promised that enlisting in a WAC Hospital unit would lead to “valuable technical and on-the-job training” even if the women did not have any previous related experience or education.
Read more: How the Only All-Black…
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Source : time
