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6888 POSTAL BATTALION CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALThe 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a unit of black women who addressed the backlog of mail in England and France during World War II, just received a Congressional Gold Medal. -Garrett On Wednesday, Don Everhart posted on Facebook: Congressional Gold Medal ceremony today at The Capitol for the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all African American Battalion of women tasked with sorting the accumulated mail that piled up in warehouses in France and England during WW2. "No mail, low morale." Both sides are my designs. 
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An NPR article reported on the ceremony. -Garrett 
House Speaker Mike Johnson (right) presents the Congressional Gold Medal for the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion to Stanley Earley III, the son of battalion commander Maj. Charity Adams, during a ceremony in Emancipation Hall on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The only Women's Army Corps unit of color to serve overseas in World War II received a Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday, exactly 80 years after pulling off an incredible organizational feat. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — nicknamed the Six Triple Eight — was a predominantly Black, all-female unit that was deployed to Europe towards the end of the war to tackle a burgeoning crisis: a backlog of some 17 million pieces of undelivered mail. When the women arrived in Birmingham, England, in February 1945, they were greeted by multiple warehouses full of mail addressed to the roughly 7 million American soldiers and government personnel stationed across Europe, many of whom were frustrated because they hadn't received any letters for months or even years. There was so much mail that one general estimated it would take the unit six months to sort and deliver it all, according to the National Museum of the United States Army. But the Six Triple Eight — whose motto was "no mail, low morale" — managed to do it in half the time, even in harsh conditions. After their success in Birmingham — and the end of the war in Europe — the unit accomplished similar missions in Rouen and Paris, France. And while the unit's members received several medals upon its return to the U.S. in 1946, there was no welcoming ceremony or public recognition of their service. Don adds: "It was a very touching ceremony for a well deserved group of brave Americans." In 2024, a movie about the battalion, The Six Triple Eight, was released, directed by Tyler Perry. Here is the film's IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24458622/. -Garrett
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