How an all-Black, female battalion helped save the morale of troops in Europe in WWII
CBSN
Rat-infested boxes of stale cakes baked for U.S. troops littered the piles of backlogged mail before an all-Black female battalion stepped up to sort through the postal bags and packages. The 855 women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion deployed to Europe in 1945, charged with making sure troops received correspondence from their loved ones.
They cut through the two- to three-year backlog of mail in just three months, surpassing the goal of six months set by U.S. Army leaders who felt the lack of mail was hurting the war effort — "no mail, low morale" was the mantra the women employed.
Finally, more than 75 years after completing their World War II mission, the women of the 6888th are close to receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation's highest civilian honors.
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