The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was an all-black battalion
of the Woman's Army Corps (WAC). The 6888th had eight hundred and
fifty-five enlisted African American women and officers. The battalion
was commanded by Major Charity Edna Adams Early, who became the
highest-ranking African-American woman in the military at the end of the
war. It was the only all-black, all-female battalion overseas during
World War II. The group was nicknamed Six Triple Eight and their motto
was "No mail, no morale. The battalion was organizing into five
companies-Headquarters Company, Company A, Company B, Company C, and
Company D. Most of the 6888th worked as postal clerks, cooks, mechanics,
and in other support positions. The Women's Army Corps (WAC) of the U.S
Army was created by a law that was signed by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt on July 1, 1943. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights
leader Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune called for African American women to
serve as enlisted personnel and officers in the WAC. With several units
of white woman sent to serve the European theater of the war, African
American organizations pressed the War Department to extend the
opportunity to serve overseas to African American WAC.
