On February 3, 1945, the US Army sent over 800 black women overseas to England aboard the SS Ile de France. Their mission unknown to them. Eleven days later, after dodging German U-boats, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion “the SixTripleEight” landed in Glasgow, Scotland. Their commander, Major Charity Adams, and the rest of her command staff waited for them on the docks. “Thanks to seasickness, the salt-water spray, and the limited personal conveniences, when they arrived after twelve days at sea, the group was a very unhappy looking lot,” recalled Adams in her book, One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC.

ADVOCATING FOR BLACK WOMEN

Their journey overseas started several years earlier when Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, advocated with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to find a meaningful role for black women in the war. Her concern was that the war was coming to an end and black women would be left out of it. An educator and public leader, Bethune had traveled to colleges and universities in the United States, and she knew where the best qualified black women were. One of those women, Charity Adams, was already serving in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Other black women had also joined the WACs, and by war’s end, over 6,000 were in uniform.

OVERSEAS TRAINING AT FORT OGLETHORPE

In the summer of 1944, Adams and other black WACs at Fort Des Moines had received orders to train at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, an overseas training center (TC). At the TC, Adams oversaw four companies. “Our preparation was intense,” said Adams. “Gas mask drills, obstacle course, classroom training, clothes packing exercises, physical examinations, and close order drill.” The women had performed well despite the ever-present specter of racism. Brigadier General (USA, Ret.) Clara Adams-Ender, the first Army Nurse to command as a General, knew several women of the SixTripleEight, and remembers this story, “they got down there, the commander of the base said, we know why you’re here and I will do nothing to help you prepare to go overseas.”

Indiana Hunt took the train from New York to Fort Oglethorpe. They had to change trains in Washington DC. Having some time before leaving, she and another WAC ventured out into the city, the nation’s Capital. “We walked around waiting to leave, that’s when we noticed all the signs ‘Whites Only,” said Martin in the 2019 documentary about the unit, The SixTripleEight.

Another woman, Lydia “Chino” Thornton joined the WACs in Phoenix, Arizona, after her brother was bayonetted on Guadalcanal. “She wanted to do something," said daughter Alva Stevenson, “and her something was to enlist.” When she signed up, Chino was given an interesting choice to join either the Black WACs or the White WACs because of her light skin complexion. She chose the Black WACs.

By December 1944, the women were trained and going home to visit with family before sailing overseas. Adams, and her Executive Officer Captain Abbie Campbell, received orders for England to prepare for the coming troops. On the flight over, Adams opened an envelope marked “Secret.” Inside were her orders to proceed to London, still no word of her mission.

17 MILLION PIECES OF MAIL

On February 14, the ‘SixTripleEight’ arrived at their new home at the King Edward School near downtown Birmingham. The living conditions were austere. One veteran remembers having to take cold showers outside. They put their gear on their bunks and were taken to nearby warehouses. Inside, they found bags of mail, packages, and boxes stacked to the ceiling. But before they tackled their mission, Major Adams had something more important in mind.

In January, she and her Executive Officer, Captain Abbie Campbell, flew over to France to meet with Major General John C.H. Lee, her immediate boss. He wanted to know if her women could march. Major Adams recalled in a 1990 interview “There is only one answer when a general asks you a question,” said Adams, “they are the best marching women you have ever seen.” Good, he replied. He told her he would come to see her battalion march three days after they arrive. On that day, they did so well that Major General Lee wrote her father a letter telling him “she was a fine, young woman.” While in Paris, Adams and Campbell took the opportunity to meet a legend of the US Army, Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., whose career began as a Buffalo Soldier in Troop I, 9th Cavalry Regiment.