All-Black Female WWII Unit to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

Excerpt: “The women of the 6888th received high praise for their work. Upon recognizing them, service members thanked them in the streets. Still, they faced discrimination due to their color and gender. According to the National Museum of the U.S. Army, several Black male service members assumed the women were sent to Europe to provide them with companionship — a notion the women of the 6888th quickly set straight. When the Red Cross denied them entry to their club and instead opened a segregated club for the women, the battalion never set foot in it to show their united disapproval of such a slight.”

News Release

451107-a-d0439-006c — Members of the Women's Army Corps 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion sort packages taken from mail sacks by French civilian employees at the 17th Base Post Office in Paris, France, Nov. 7, 1945. (Credit: Army)

450527-a-d0439-015c — Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion take part in a parade and ceremony on May 27, 1945, which was held in honor of Joan of Arc at the marketplace where she was burned at the stake in Rouen, France. (Credit: Army)

106-year-old-army-wwii-veteran-honored — Soldiers greet and gather around World War II Army veteran Alyce Dixon, 106, after the Pentagon honored her in a ceremony for Women's History Month, March 31, 2014. Dixon served in the Women's Army Corps 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only unit of black women in the WAC to serve overseas in England and France during World War II. (Credit: Army)