March is Women’s History Month: 6th Cavalry Museum celebrates female contributions to the American military
Women are hardly new to the art of war. Throughout history, women have been involved in warfare. Nearly 2,000 years before Christ, Ahhotep I lead the Egyptian army. Armies led by Candace of Meroe prevented Alexander the Great from invading Nubia in 332 BC. And in 1429 Joan of Arc lead the French Royal Army to drive the Brittons from Gaul. Women have played important roles on and off the battlefield around the world.
Here, in the United States, before we were even a country, women played an important role in gaining our independence from England. During the Revolutionary War, women would accompany their husbands into battle, some even disguising themselves as men and picking up arms against the Redcoats. During the American Civil War women served as nurses and aides while others took on the roles of spies or smugglers. And in World War One, women typically helped behind the lines providing comfort as members of the nursing corps or Red Cross.
When the world neared another global conflict, women wanted to play a more hands-on role.
Massachusetts Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers introduced a bill in May 1941
to create the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Congress approved it one year later, President Franklin Roosevelt signing it into law May 14, 1942. Within a year, Fort Oglethorpe became home to the Third WAAC Training Center. One-third of all WAACs received training here in North Georgia.
The idea of women being uniformed, trained members of the United States Army was very new and attracted lots of attention to Fort Oglethorpe. President Roosevelt, whose signature created the WAACs, paid a surprise visit to the Post to witness the training going on. Entertainers such as
Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Al Jolson came to Fort Oglethorpe to put on shows for the brave ladies.
And Hollywood took notice, sending film superstar Lana Turner to film “Keep Your Powder Dry” for MGM Studios, about women serving in the Army.
Of the thousands of women who received training here, one unit stands out among others because of their fight on three fronts. The war, of course, and because they were women, they fought sexism, and because they were African-American training in the American South, they fought racism. The 855 members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
(6888th) received their extended field service training for deployment to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) at Fort Oglethorpe.
Commanded by Major Charity Adams the Six Triple Eight, as they were nicknamed, received a baptism by fire as the Ile de France ocean liner transporting them to England was forced to zig-zag across the Atlantic to avoid torpedoes from German Uboats. When they arrived in Birmingham, England, they were faced with more than 17 million pieces of mail that needed to be delivered to Allied troops serving in the ETO. Stacked in aircraft hangars, some of the mail had been there for months. Some had
rotting food, attracting vermin of all sorts. One officer predicted it would take the 6888th six months to sort the backlog. Working three shifts, around the clock, the motivated soldiers operating under the motto “No mail, low morale” completed the task in half that time.
The unit was then shipped to Rouen, France, to clear another backlog, some of the letters having been there three years. Once finished, the women marched through a newly-liberated Paris and were housed in a luxury hotel. The 6888th also participated in a parade ceremony at the place where the aforementioned Joan of Arc died.
Members of the 6888th received the European African Middle East Campaign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal for their service. In 2019 the United States Army awarded the 6888th the Meritorious Unit Commendation. And in 2021 a bill was introduced and recently passed in Congress to award the members of the Six-Triple-Eight the Congressional Gold Medal.