The Real ‘Six Triple Eight’ Battled Much More Than a Mail Backlog During World War II (2025)

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Despite the deadly perils of World War II surrounding them, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion never wavered from its motto: “No mail, low morale.” In the process, the all-women’s army regiment offered soldiers a glimmer of hope during the conflict and earned an indelible place in military history.

The remarkable true story of the 6888th Battalion is now featured in The Six Triple Eight, a new movie that arrived in select theaters Friday and begins streaming December 20 on Netflix. Written and directed by Tyler Perry, The Six Triple Eight stars Kerry Washington as real-life commanding officer Charity Adams who helped the U.S. Women’s Army Corps unit sort through millions of undelivered letters and packages mailed to American troops.

While the feat was daunting enough, the almost entirely Black battalion also confronted racism and misogyny, meaning their battle was on three fronts. “First we had to fight segregation, second was the war, and third were the men,” veteran member Anna Tarryk once said.

Women weren’t allowed to join the Army until 1942

When the United States entered World War II following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, women weren’t allowed to officially serve in support of the Army. That changed on May 14, 1952, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill into law creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. The name was later shortened to the Women’s Army Corps, or WAC.

One of the thousands of women who signed up was Charity Adams, a 23-year-old on summer vacation from teaching junior high math and science in Columbia, South Carolina, when she received an invitation to apply. Her reason for joining was simple. “The letter… emphasized career and leadership opportunities,” she wrote in her memoir One Woman’s Army. Little did she know she would become the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. Army officer and lead the newly formed 6888th Battalion, also called the Six Triple Eight.

The Real ‘Six Triple Eight’ Battled Much More Than a Mail Backlog During World War II (1)

The unit was created in December 1944 in order to alleviate the backlog of mail that had accumulated for U.S. soldiers stationed in Europe, who numbered around 7 million at the time. It was believed that doing so would boost troops’ spirits as fighting dragged on.

According to the Library of Congress, members of the 6888th—comprised predominantly of African Americans along with some women of Hispanic and Caribbean descent—ranged in age from 17 to 52. The group received basic combat and gas mask training at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia, where members faced discrimination. Segregation practices forced them to use separate drinking fountains for “colored” soldiers, and male officers were known to make crude remarks. But under the leadership of Adams, the 855-member regiment banded together and prepared to prove themselves overseas.

The 6888th worked in miserable conditions

On February 14, 1945, members of the 6888th arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, and made their way to Birmingham, England, where they would begin their work. It quickly became apparent the segregation they experienced in the United States had accompanied them at their new home.

The American Red Cross refused hotel accommodations to Black auxiliary corps members and designated a separate facility for them in London, per the Library of Congress. Furious, Adams led a boycott of the organization’s facilities. “The Red Cross wanted to set up another hotel for the Black WACs, and I promised them that it would be over my dead body before anybody slept there. And nobody slept there to my knowledge,” she explained in an oral history for the U.S. Army Women’s Museum.

Housed in a former boarding school, the 6888th was a self-sufficient unit that had its own dining hall, medical staff, and military police who received jiu-jitsu training in lieu of weapons. Still, working conditions were less than ideal.

At least six warehouses full of undelivered mail greeted the battalion in Birmingham. Because many packages contained spoiled food items such as cake and fried chicken, they grew mildew and attracted scavenging rats. Once the mail was ready to handle, sorters worked in blackout conditions with factory windows covered with dark paint to shield their presence from German forces. Eye strain became a common malady.

Wintry conditions provided an added challenge. The warehouses didn’t have heaters, meaning clerks had to wear ski pants, field jackets, and other items while working just to keep warm.

As a result, the group tried to boost its own morale as much as possible. Members often traveled into the city to go bowling and dancing or eat at nearby restaurants. Locals even invited them into their houses for Sunday dinners, providing a needed respite.

The unit sorted the mail in half the allotted time

Determined to meet their goal, members of the 6888th worked a rotation of eight-hour shifts every day of the week and quickly made progress. Within three months—half of their allotted time limit—the unit sorted more than 17 million letters and parcels and erased the mail backlog, according to the Buffalo Soldier Educational and Historical Committee.

The Real ‘Six Triple Eight’ Battled Much More Than a Mail Backlog During World War II (2)

However, the 6888th didn’t stop there. The group transferred to Rouen, France, in June 1945 to sort through additional mail and cleared a three-year accumulation in just five months.

By that time, the war had ended in both the European and Pacific theaters. According to the National Archives, the unit was reduced by 300 members. By February 1946, the entirety of the 6888th returned to Fort Dix in New Jersey, and the battalion was disbanded.

The 6888th Battalion garnered little attention during and immediately after the war. No parade or ceremony feted their accomplishments. It would be almost 80 years until President Joe Biden awarded the group the Congressional Medal of Honor in March 2022.

“The lack of recognition experienced by these Black women upon their return typified the general indifference, and even hostility, that Black veterans generally received from the broader American public after the second World War,” archivist Damani Davis later said. “But like their Black male counterparts, the overseas experience of these women provided them with the extra motivation and determination to fight even harder against the inequities in their homeland.”

Still, the 6888th helped prove women of color could be assets to and had a place within the U.S. Army. According to the Library of Congress, Black women accounted for only 5.7 percent of the WAC during World War II. That total had risen to 34.1 percent by 2020.

Adams prioritized public service as a civilian, too

Although the 6888th returned to the United States with little fanfare, Adams garnered multiple accolades for her leadership. Per the National Women’s History Museum, she received a promotion to lieutenant colonel—the highest WAC rank possible under director Oveta Culp Hobby—in December 1945. After her honorable discharge only three months later, Adams received a scroll of honor from The National Council of Negro Women Inc. for distinguished service.

Upon returning from Europe, many members of the 6888th took advantage of the GI Bill to continue their education. This included Adams, who received a master of arts degree from Ohio State University in 1946. She worked multiple jobs in academic administration before marrying Stanley A. Earley Jr. in 1949 and taking his last name.

Upon the completion of her husband’s medical training, the couple settled in Dayton, Ohio, in the 1950s. Adams took an active role in the community, serving on the board of directors for the local chapter of the American Red Cross and founding the Black Leadership Development Program that provided education and training for African Americans.

In 1996, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum held a ceremony recognizing Adams for her achievements during the war effort. She died a few years later on January 13, 2002, at age 83. Thanks to Perry’s film, an entirely new generation will know the inspiring story of Charity Adams Earley and her comrades in the Six Triple Eight.

Watch The Six Triple Eight in Theaters and on Netflix

According to Netflix, only two veterans of the 6888th Battalion are still alive today: Fannie McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson. However, it was an April 2022 meeting with veteran Lena Derriecott King, who died in January 2024 at age 100, that inspired director Tyler Perry to make The Six Triple Eight.

In an Instagram video, 55-year-old Perry revealed he viewed an unfinished cut of the movie with King just prior to her death. “I rushed as soon as I could and got the movie together and brought it to her to see,” he said. “I sat there beside her with my iPad having her watch the movie and, I tell you, the reaction was so amazing, so incredible. She cried.”

The video also included part of King’s response. “Thank you for reminding the world of the women, the Black women’s contribution, to the world, to liberation, to the war effort, to all that matters,” she said.

See the history-making legacy of King, Adams, and their comrades in The Six Triple Eight, now playing in select theaters. The movie will stream on Netflix starting December 20. Star Kerry Washington is joined by a cast that includes Susan Sarandon and Oprah Winfrey.

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