LOUISIANA ( KLFY ) — During World War II, the mail system in Europe was backlogged by more than two years. This resulted in U.S. soldiers being unable to get mail or send letters to their loved ones back home.
When no one was able to get the mail system back on track, the military called on the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion , a multi-ethnic female unit of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. that was predominately Black, to head to London and get to work.
“They sent them overseas, horrible conditions, and gave them six months to get everything up to date. They did it in three months,” said Dianne Mouton-Allen.
According to a website managed by the Buffalo Soldier Educational and Historical Committee , the mission of the 6888 Battalion “was to clear several years of backlogged mail in the European Theater of Operations” and that the women worked in “cold, dirty, dark rat-infested aircraft hangars with broken windows.”
Mouton-Allen is the niece of one of the last surviving members of the battalion, Fannie Griffin McClendon. She said her Aunt Fannie didn’t share much about her experience in the war until two years ago when the 6888 received a Congressional Gold Medal.