State and local officials gathered on Friday in Raleigh to celebrate the renaming of a local post office after a civil rights leader, and a member of the only all-Black female World War II unit.
Millie Dunn Veasey was a staff sergeant with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — nicknamed the Six Triple Eight. They deployed to Europe towards the end of World War II to tackle a burgeoning crisis: a backlog of some 17 million pieces of undelivered mail. She and others in the unit processed up to 195,000 pieces of mail daily. Filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry directed a movie based on the troop’s experience.
Earlier this year, former President Biden signed a bill into law to rename the Brentwood Road Post Office after Veasey. Congresswoman Deborah Ross, the bill’s sponsor, was among the guest speakers at Friday morning’s event held at Veasey’s home church, St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh.
She said it was more than just a post office renaming…