Netflix brings a little-known historical story to the screen with the film “The Six Triple Eight”, directed and written by Tyler Perry. The film tells the extraordinary story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only battalion of the Second World War composed largely of African-American women belonging to the Women’s Army Corps; a courageous group played a crucial role during the conflict, facing not only the difficulties of the war but also the racial and gender prejudices of the time. The plot of the film takes inspiration from an article published in 2019 in the WWII History Magazine, which brought this forgotten page of history to light. The film stars Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon, Dean Norris and Sam Waterston.
The Six Triple Eight: the true story of Battalion 6888
During World War II, thousands of letters and packages destined for American soldiers in Europe piled up, abandoned in huge hangars in Birmingham, England. The mail was not reaching the recipients, and this lack of connection with home was seriously undermining the morale of the troops. The US Army estimated that it would take six months to clear that gigantic backlog, but finding someone willing to take on the task wasn’t easy.
In November 1944, a group of 855 African American women – including 824 enlisted men and 31 officers – were recruited from the Women’s Army Corps and other military divisions to form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight” (hence the film title). We are faced with the first and only battalion composed entirely of African-American women to be sent overseas during the war, led by Charity Edna Adams Earley, a pioneer who would become the first African-American woman to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army .
Arriving in Birmingham, the women of the 6888th found themselves faced with a seemingly simple but in reality extraordinarily complex task: sorting mountains of mail bags accumulated in the city’s cold and dirty hangars. Many letters were addressed to soldiers with common names or generic nicknames. Women worked wrapped in layers of clothing beneath their uniforms, while airstrikes raged outside. Despite the extreme conditions, the battalion completed the job in three months, half the expected time. Divided into eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, the women sorted an average of 65,000 letters a day, for a total of nearly seven million pieces of mail. Their dedication gave birth to the motto “No mail, low morale,” because they knew how important it was for soldiers to maintain contact with families and friends back home.
After completing the mission in Birmingham, the battalion was transferred to Rouen, France, to deal with an even larger mail backlog: two to three years of undelivered mail. Here too, working tirelessly, they finished the job in just three months. They later moved to Paris, where they found themselves facing another problem: the theft of packages and goods, often stolen to meet the needs of the war-ravaged local population.
Returning to the United States in 1946, the women of the 6888th were disbanded without any celebration, parade, or official recognition. Their contributions went unnoticed for decades, despite the crucial role they played in the morale of American troops during the war. Only recently has the story of the 6888th begun to receive the attention it deserves. In 2018, a monument dedicated to these extraordinary women was unveiled at the Buffalo Soldier Commemorative Area in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with five surviving members of the battalion in attendance. The article published in 2019 by the WWII History Magazine contributed to making known an important story, which has now become a film directed by Tyler Perry.
The trailer of the film
