- #ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK SERIAL#
- #ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK FULL#
- #ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK WINDOWS#
The women had to investigate these thefts, working with locals to track down those packages. Because of the deprivations that the French people had suffered during the war, the unit's soldiers also dealt with a slew of package thefts. About 300 of their soldiers had been discharged by then due to the war's end, so the workload fluctuated, and unit morale suffered. In October 1945, the unit was sent to Paris. With the help of French civilians and German prisoners of war, the unit cleared a similarly sized backlog just as quickly as it did in England. They began their work a few weeks after victory was declared in Europe.
#ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK SERIAL#
The women often resorted to using serial and/or service numbers to figure out the correct recipient.Īfter that job was finished, the 6888th was sent to Rouen, France, in June 1945 to continue their mission. The unit also had to investigate and decipher pieces of mail that only listed nicknames for the recipients or had insufficient addresses. For example, reports showed there were 7,500 men named Robert Smith. The women came across recipients with the same names. Rats sought out packages of cakes and cookies, which had spoiled in the unheated and poorly lit facilities.
#ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK WINDOWS#
The facility had blacked-out windows to help protect occupants from nighttime air raids, but the dark environment had unintended side effects.
#ARMY OF TWO MASKS SMILE BLACK FULL#
Six of those facilities were airplane hangars full of Christmas presents, which had been returned during the Battle of the Bulge, according to an Army Combat Studies Institute publication. When the 6888th arrived in Birmingham, the women quickly noticed massive piles of mail reaching the warehouse ceilings. Since they were a self-contained unit, they also ran their own supply room, motor pool and mess hall. The women worked 24 hours a day divided into three shifts to sift, sort and redirect the backlog. Most frontline soldiers hadn't received any mail in months, so the unit took the mission very seriously. Not only were they sorting mail, but the essential foundation of their mission was to boost morale across the entirety of deployed U.S.
The unit then took a train to Birmingham, England, where their work on the mail backlog began.
As a German V-1 rocket exploded near the dock, they ran and took cover.
Upon their arrival, the women immediately put their training to good use. The battalion deployed to England in February 1945, travelling by ship in U-boat-infested waters to Glasgow, Scotland. Army historians said the women studied enemy aircraft, ships and weapons they learned to board and evacuate ships and even went on long marches with rucksacks. While the unit wasn't heading to the frontlines, its soldiers still had to go through weeks of basic training, which included obstacle courses and gas mask drills, Guise said. Charity Adams, who finished the war as a lieutenant colonel, becoming the highest-ranking Black woman during the war. The Army created the 6888th in late 1944 and included five companies totaling about 850 Black women. Of the more than 140,000 women who served in the Women's Army Corps during World War II, about 6,500 of them were Black. Unsung heroes of their time, theirs is a story of incredible postal proficiency. Now, 77 years later, a measure has been signed into law that will give the unit the Congressional Gold Medal. Officials expected the unit's mission to take about six months in each location where they were assigned.
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