March 4,2021
Hello ,
A big moment in Black history long overdue: Congress awarded members of the #6888th Postal Directory Battalion the Congressional Gold Medal.
The Six-Triple-Eight was the only all-black Women's Army Corps battalion to serve overseas during WWII. They were deployed to England in early 1945 to sort and resend a massive backlog of mail meant for service men in Europe.
Besides a gold medal, looks like these women will also get their own Broadway musical! Just announced today.
Long-Deserved Recognition
Major Fannie Griffin McClendon who is 101 and lives in Arizona, is one of a handful of the 885 #6888th members still on this earth to receive the medal of honor.
"It's overwhelming," Major McClendon said when hearing the House unanimously passed the bill to award the medal. "It's something I never even thought about it. I don't know if I can stand this."
Major Fannie Griffin McClendon (Ap photo/Matt York)
The black women arrived in Birmingham, England, in 1944 to face airplane hangars stacked to the roof with mail. It wasn't said, but they knew they were being tested. At the time Black Americans faced segregation and racism on a daily basis. The Army game them six-months to turn over millions of letters and packages.
“We were just stymied by the mail stacked all over,” Cpl. Virginia Lane Frazier said. And more continued to arrive."
Commander of the battalion Major Charity Adams formed a special unit to work with together broken and damaged packages.
“They could take a box…look at the color of the paper, the indentation of the cans, and sometimes using the newspaper that was stuffed in the package, they could see where the package came from,” Charity said. “I was just amazed at how good they were.”
Members of the Women's Army Corp #6888th postal battalion sort packages in an airport hangar in Birmingham, England. 1945
“There were packages of birthday and Christmas gifts with grandma’s cookies and cakes and things…the food had rotted and molded,” Corporal Mary Rhoden said. “Rats were big as cats in there.”
Mary Crawford Ragland (Technician Fifth Grade) said some Americans didn't understand how to properly address letters to service men.
"So, they would just write a letter to their son or husband addressed ‘To Junior, U.S. Army,’ or ‘To Sam, Army.’ It was our job to figure out who those soldiers were and get them their mail.”
Member of #6888th Postal Directory Battalion sorts mail in Birmingham, England. (US Army photo)
The battalion worked around the clock in three shifts. It was meticulous, tiring an dirty work. But they believed getting letters to the soldiers on the frontlines would help boost morale. And they felt connected to the soldiers they served.
“There was part of the history of these men on the files,” Pfc. Dorothy Turner said. “You could see the last time that this man got mail…you had this pile of mail that he should have gotten over the years…You knew that he had not gotten any news from his family or friends…and you were determined to try to find him.”
The #6888th plowed through the baglog of mail in just three months, half the time they were expected to take. The unit then followed the Allied armies into France, where they continued working through the summer of 1944.
The majority of American black women in the WWII army did not go abroad but filled positions at home to "free a man to fight." More than six thousand served during the war.
Women's Army Corps soldiers at attention for barracks inspection. Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 1942.
Photo Courtesy National Archives.
Black women enlisting in the newly formed Women's Army Corps were among the bravest and most adventurous women in 1940s America. They succeeded in jobs women had never worked before, survived racial prejudice and discrimination with dignity and helped win the war.
While white soldiers received a hero's welcome when they returned to the states. The women of the #6888th trickled home in small groups at a time invisible to America. “[The army] gave us our discharge papers, and sent us home,” Mary Crawford Ragland said. “There were no parades, no welcomes, no nothing.”
Though only six women remain alive, it's important that at long last they have been honored for their service. The Congressional Gold Medal helps bring the stories of these women to the surface, adding breadth and depth to our understanding of American history.
Sources
Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of WWII, by Mary Cronk Farrell (Abrams Books for Young People 2016)
So thrilled to be a guest this week on the Coming Home Well podcast. CHW is a non-profit organization working to educate, support, & advocate for veterans & caregivers.
Host Dr. Tyler Pieron is an Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He served in the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command as a Special Agent until he was medically retired. On Coming Home Well’s radio and podcast shows he converses with professionals, veterans, and organizations to help educate and provide resources on how to assist our warriors when they return home.
To celebrate Women's History Month, I was invited on the show to talk about Catherine Leroy. Which I was very excited about until I heard the sound of my own voice. 😳
I guess I was too excited. I'm taking this as a learning experience heading into another presentation I'm scheduled to do later this month. I need to get in the hang of talking to a computer instead of an audience.
You all are invited to my book launch!
Near or far, you're invited to my book launch!
Virtual Book Launch for CLOSE-UP ON WAR
April 1st at 7pm (Pacific)
From the comfort of your own home, you can join my virtual book launch with your phone, tablet or computer. Click here to register.
If you're in the Spokane, WA, area, you are cordially invited to my real, live, in-person book launch at Auntie's Bookstore.
Auntie's Bookstore
March 22 at 7pm
402 West Main Avenue, Spokane
Please give a round of applause to newsletter subscriber Beverly Love Warren! Beverly is an illustrator, and her first book debuted this week. Have You Seen Mouse?
Congratulations, Beverly!
When Humphry, a bear, discovers his best friend has moved away, he searches the forest to find him, only to return home alone. It is then that he discovers how much his friend loves him. Have You Seen Mouse? shows the young reader the devotion and perseverance of a true friendship.
Beverly's second book comes out next month! Fishing with Grandpa and Skye
is written by Candace Spizzirri and illustrated by Beverly Love Warren. Check Beverly's website to see her beautiful artwork.
Follow me on social media
Read a great book? Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy my newsletter or books, please forward this e-mail. I will never spam
you or sell your email address, you can unsubscribe anytime at the link below.
To find out more about my books, how I help students, teachers, librarians and writers visit my website at www.MaryCronkFarrell.com.
Contact me at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to this newsletter.
|
|
|
