WORKING THAT’S NOW ON MATTER OF FACT HERE IS AN INCREDIBLE STORY. IT’S 1945. WORLD WAR TWO IS RAGING. THERE ARE, OF, OF COURSE, NO TEXTS, NO MESSAGING APPS, NO EMAILS, NO FAXES. THE ONLY WAY FOR TROOPS OVERSEAS AND THEIR LOVED ONES TO STAY CONNECTED IS WITH A LETTER OR A PACKAGE. THAT MEANS A LOT OF MAIL AND THE WAIT FOR IT COULD BE MONTHS, EVEN YEARS. CONCERN AND ABOUT HOMESICK SOLDIERS. THE US ARMY TASKS ONE SPECIAL DIVISION TO SEE IF THEY CAN DO THE IMPOSSIBLE SORT AND CLEAR WAREHOUSES PACKED TO THE CEILING WITH BAGS OF LETTERS AND CARE PACKAGES IN EARLY 1945, THE 6888 CENTRAL POSTAL DIRECTORY BATTALION IN AN ARMY UNIT OF 855 BLACK WOMEN, WAS DISPATCHED TO ENGLAND AND FRANCE. OUR CORRESPOND ALEXIS CLARK INTRODUCES US TO THE RETIRED COLONEL WHO’S NOW ENSURING THAT STORY GETS TOLD. GOOD NIGHT AND DAY. THE VAST BUSINESS OF ASSEMBLY WENT ON IN PREPARATION FOR THE COMING ATTACK, THE MASSIVE INVASION OF WESTERN EUROPE, KNOWN AS D-DAY, WAS COVERTLY PLANNED BY THE ALLIES FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS. ALL COMMUNICATION ABOUT TROOPS AND TROOP MOVEMENTS WERE CLOSELY MONITORED. THE D-DAY PREPARATIONS WAS THE CATALYST FOR THE BACKLOG BECAUSE MAIL CONTAINED SENSITIVE INFORMATION. SO THE MAIL HAD TO BE CENSORED. IT SOMETIMES WAS STOPPED. COLONEL EDNA CUMMINGS, A CAREER ARMY OFFICER, CAME ACROSS THE STORY OF THE 6888 ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO AND WAS TAKEN ABACK THAT SHE’D NEVER HEARD OF THEM OR THEIR MISSION. THE TASK OF SORTING THE MAIL. OTHER UNITS HAD TRIED AND FAILED, WITH 7 MILLION SERVICE MEMBERS IN EUROPE, THE MAIL BACKLOG TOTALED NEARLY 17 MILLION PIECES, FILLING WAREHOUSES IN ENGLAND. WHEN THE 6888 ARRIVED IN 1945, THEY HAD TO WORK IN BLACKOUT CONDITIONS BECAUSE THE WAR WASN’T OVER. SO THE WOMEN HEARD BOMBS OR ARTILLERY CONDITIONS CUMMINGS LEARNED OF BY TALKING TO SURVIVING 6888 MEMBERS. THEY WORKED EIGHT HOUR SHIFTS AROUND THE CLOCK IN DARK, DAMP BUILDINGS. SOME PACKAGES HAD SPOILED FOOD, WHICH ATTRACTED RATS AND MAIL WASN’T ALWAYS LABELED CORRECTLY BECAUSE OF THE LITERACY LEVELS IN THE US AT THE TIME, SOME OF THE LETTERS WERE JUST ADDRESSED TO BUSTER OR JUNIOR, BUT THE 6888 UNDERTOOK THE TASK OF CREATING A LOCATOR SYSTEM WITH SERIAL NUMBERS FOR ALL THE SERVICE MEMBERS. YOU HAD ONE SHIFT THAT WAS SLEEPING AND ONE THAT WAS WORKING. THEY PROCESSED THEM UPWARDS OF 65,000 PIECES OF MAIL AND PACKAGES PER SHIFT NONSTOP. SO IT WAS GRUELING HARD WORK. THE 6888 CLEARED THE BACKLOG IN THREE MONTHS TO HUNT FROM GIBSON WHO GIBSON GIBSON WAS A GERMAN PRISONER. IT HAS REALLY BEEN A GREAT JOURNEY, FINDING OUT ABOUT WHO MY MOM WAS. OTHER THAN JUST BEING MY MOM. JANICE MARTIN HAS A BOX OF MEMORABILIA FROM HER MOTHER, INDIANA HUNT MARTIN, WHO SERVED IN THE 6888 EE. WHAT DOES SHE SAY? IT WAS LIKE WHEN SHE RETURNED? I THINK IT WAS A REAL LIBERATING EXPERIENCE FOR THEM, COMING FROM A PLACE WHERE OUR JIM CROW LAWS WERE BEING ENFORCED. THEY WERE ABLE TO GO INTO RESTAURANTS, GO TO PEOPLE’S HOMES. NO ONE MADE A FUSS ABOUT ANYTHING. INDIANA HUNT MARTIN PASSED AWAY IN 2020, AND CURRENTLY THERE ARE ONLY FIVE SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE 6888. I’M JUST SO SO HAPPY THAT SOMEBODY IS FINALLY FINDING OUT THAT THERE WERE BLACK WOMEN IN THE MILITARY. SO TELL ME, WHAT’S IN THESE BOXES. WELL, THESE BOXES CONTAIN WE ARE VERY INTENTIONAL ABOUT PRESERVING OUR ARCHIVES. THE AFRO NEWS HEADQUARTERED IN BALTIMORE, IS ONE OF THE REASONS THE 6888 STORY WAS SAVED FOR FRANCES MURPHY, DRAPER IS THE CEO. WE HAVE 3 MILLION PHOTOGRAPHS. WE HAVE AUDIO RECORDINGS. WE HAVE PICTURES. THE AFRO TURNED 131 THIS YEAR AND WAS FOUNDED BY DRAPER’S GREAT GRANDFATHER. IT GOT STARTED AS A ONE SHEET, ONE EDITION OUT OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. AND AND THEN IT SPREAD TO 13 EDITIONS, ALL UP AND DOWN THE EAST COAST. THE AFRO SENT REPORTERS TO EUROPE TO COVER THE WAR. THE PAPER EVEN TURNED THEIR DISPATCHES INTO A BOOK CALLED THIS IS OUR WAR, PUBLISHED IN 1945. THE BOOK IS BEING RERELEASED JUST THIS MONTH. THE ACCOUNTS ARE DETAILED AND THEY’RE NOT ALL ABOUT FIGHTING. THEY’RE ABOUT WHERE THEY WENT IN PARIS AND WHO THEY MET AND WHAT THEY DID. THE PAPER ALSO PRINTED THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF SERVICE MEMBERS IN EUROPE, INCLUDING THOSE OF THE 6888. IT BECAME A HISTORICAL RECORD TO CELEBRATE THE PASSAGE OF THE 6888 CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT, A HISTORICAL RECORD THAT CAME IN HANDY IN 2022 WHEN THE BATTALION RECEIVED THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL, THE HIGHEST CIVILIAN AWARD, IN LARGE PART DUE TO AN EFFORT BY COLONEL CUMMINGS. WHAT DID IT MEAN FOR BLACK WOMEN AT THAT TIME TO WEAR UNITED STATES MILITARY UNIFORM? I THINK IT SYMBOLIZED REBELLION BECAUSE IT DEFIED SOCIAL NORMS FOR A WOMAN TO BEING IN THE MILITARY, LET ALONE A BLACK WOMAN. THE 6888 RECEIVED THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK WOMEN, NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE WOMEN, BECAUSE THEY ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING THAT NO OTHER UNIT COULD ACCOMPLISH, WHICH I HEARD SOMEONE SAY THEY WERE SET UP TO FAIL, BUT THEY STOOD UP AND DELI