By Edna W. Cummings, Col. US Military (Ret.)
Touched, humbled and enlightened, the 6888th Battalion households and mates returned from Scotland, England and France with a deeper understanding of their ancestors’ army service throughout World Conflict II.
From June 18 to June 30, the descendants of the ladies who served the historic 6888th Central Postal Listing Battalion within the European Theater of Operations (ETO) walked the place their ancestors walked.
On the forefront of Black journalism, the AFRO despatched conflict correspondents to the ETO who chronicled the actions of Black troops. The 6888th articles comprised the Stephen Ambrose Historic Tour’s highway e-book and supplied a first-hand glimpse into the unit’s experiences. Vashti Murphy Matthews, daughter of AFRO writer, Carl J. Murphy, was a member of the 6888th and wrote about her time abroad. Vashti’s son, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Rodger Matthews and his spouse Carol joined the tour. The AFRO now shares highlights of descendants’ European pilgrimage, the primary of its type.
Scotland (Pre-Tour)
Harking back to the hospitality obtained by the 6888th Postal Battalion nearly eight a long time in the past, the pre-tour started on June 19 in Glasgow, Scotland. College of Glasgow Professor Dr. Timothy Peacock invited the group to his residence for a house cooked meal ready by his mom. Eating with different college colleagues, company loved a delicious Scottish meal of baked salmon, backyard raspberries, chocolate meringue pie and different native favorites. Dinner concluded with after dinner whiskey pictures for company.
Though Glasgow Scotland was simply the port of embarkation for the 6888th, Peacock recreated the hospitality the 6888th skilled once they left a segregated America and interacted with the UK neighborhood. The Scotland pre-tour concluded with a go to to the Greenock and Gourock ports, the primary cease on a journey the place 6888th’s legacy started on Feb. 12, 1945. The now historic unit’s legacy is their resolution to the army’s mail and morale disaster within the ETO whereas encountering overt sexism and racism. They had been additionally the one Black unit from the Ladies’s Military Corps to serve abroad throughout WWII.
In March 2022, President Biden signed Public Legislation 117-97 awarding the 6888th the best civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, making them the one ladies’s army unit to obtain this recognition.
England
After touring Glasgow Scotland, the 9 pre-tour company boarded a bus for Birmingham, England to hitch the opposite tour members. At a relaxation cease, they met singer Howard Hewitt and Carolyn Griffey from the R&B group Shalamar, who had been within the UK on a Fortieth Anniversary Tour. That night, company joined the twelve different household and mates for a welcome reception on the historic Grand Lodge, Birmingham, England, the place Malcom X lodged throughout his go to to England within the mid-60s.
Garry Stewart, Managing Director Black Heritage Walks Community and chargeable for the 6888th Blue Plaque coordinated participation within the June 22, Windrush seventy fifth Anniversary actions. The subsequent day, the group visited the King Edwards Faculty the place the 6888th resided and labored within the surrounding space.
Greeted by the workers and college students on the college, Helen Murdoch, a British re-enactor gave an summary of ladies’s roles in WWII. Letters for Victory authors Martin and Francis Collins who documented the ETO postal community headquartered in Sutton, Coldfield joined the viewers. To shut the presentation, Col. Cummings shared the video of the upcoming Broadway sure 6888th Musical’s opening tune, “All I Want.” The King Edwards Faculty go to unleashed a variety of feelings and nostalgia because the descendants fashioned a line in entrance of the college to recreate the enduring February 1945 inspection picture with Main Charity Adams and Captain Mary Kearney.
Cynthia Scott, daughter of 6888th veteran Elizabeth Barker Johnson commented, “I can really feel my mom’s spirit.”
The Birmingham go to concluded with a non-public afternoon tea with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Chaman Lal and his spouse.
The subsequent morning on June 24, company traveled to London, and whereas en-route, visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon. As a substitute of a deliberate quick go to to the statue, the group turned bystanders on the metropolis’s UK Armed Forces Day ceremony. Afterwards, they met with Mayor Kate Rolfe who supplied a tour of the council home and walked with the group to Shakespeare’s statue. Three descendants positioned themselves across the statue and recreated one other 6888th historic picture. About an hour later, the group arrived in London and Andre Theobolds and Main (Ret.) Natasha Hinds, U.S. Military met with members of the family residing within the metropolis. Coincidentally, whereas serving within the ETO, a number of members of the 6888th additionally met with their members of the family. Writer, historian and Six Triple Eight Netflix film guide, Kevin Hymel joined the group in London. The subsequent day’s go to to Bletchley Park enlightened everybody about World Conflict II codebreakers. Personal Annie Knight’s two daughters (Carmen Jordan Cox and Karen Jordan) recalled their mom’s categorized job as a Cryptographic Code Compiler previous to becoming a member of the 6888th. The Churchill Conflict Rooms concluded the London portion of the tour. Afterwards, they boarded a ferry for the six hour crossing of the English Channel with a night arrival in Le’Harve, France.
France
Might 8, 1945 marked the top of the conflict in Europe and the 6888th relocated to Rouen, France shortly thereafter. They labored and had been housed in a spinning mill transformed to Caserne Tallandier barracks within the Le-Petit Quevilly commune. Whereas in Rouen, the 6888th labored alongside German POWs. Janice Martin remembers her mom, Indiana Hunt-Martin mentioning odd aromas whereas the 6888th was stationed in Rouen. The remnants of a focus camp and German Prisoner of Conflict compounds might have been the supply of these uncommon scents. In July1945, Vashti Murphy wrote in regards to the “Bathe Heavenly, After Baths in Helmets in Rouen.
Rouen’s tour started with a go to to Napoleon’s statue adopted by a avenue renaming ceremony hosted by Petit Quevilly’s Mayor, Charlotte Goujon honoring Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams, 6888th Commander. Afterwards, the group walked to the plaza (now a buying space) the place Joan of Arc was burned on the stake at 19 years outdated. In just a few days after the group’s departure, a Rouen police station turned a casualty of the riots protesting the loss of life of a young person with Algerian heritage killed by the police.
The seashores of Normandy and Normandy American Cemetery had been websites that stirred ancestral recollections. Hymel supplied insights in regards to the Normandy landings and the 6888th Tour Historian, Col. Cummings infused the discussions with details about the 320th Balloon Barrage Battalion, the Purple Ball Specific and different Black models who served abroad throughout World Conflict II. The 90 diploma cliffs on the seashores and the stroll by the German bunkers at Level-du-Hoc had been akin to underground concrete housing. The view of the now vegetation crammed battlefields and irregular panorama as soon as riddled with artillery reminded everybody why bettering troop morale was essential to the conflict.
Tremika Massey, granddaughter of 6888th member Hester Givens, met her husband Corporal Samuel Massey whereas they had been each stationed in France. Cpl. Massey served within the 227th Port Firm, one of many Black models that landed at Utah Seashore in the course of the Normandy invasion. Port firms additionally eliminated the useless our bodies from seashores after D-Day.
Normandy American Cemetery supplied a second of reflection and solace in the course of the wreath laying ceremony for the three 6888th ladies who died in July 1945 whereas stationed in Rouen. Solely 4 ladies are buried at Normandy, three are from the 6888th. The Military refused to pay for the burials and German POWs constructed the coffins with funds collected by Main Adams. Normandy’s company paused whereas Tremika Massey sang, “His Eye is On the Sparrow.” Afterwards, Assistant Superintendent John Bolt accompanied company to the three graves of Sergeant Delores Brown, and Privates First Class Mary Barlow and Mary Bankston. In a gesture to spotlight the identify to the physique beneath the soil, Bolt rubbed sand from Omaha Seashore into the names of the markers.
In early November 1945, roughly half of the 6888th departed Rouen for Paris, and the others went again to the U.S. Whereas in Paris, the 6888th continued to clear mail backlogs, and a few labored on phone switchboards. A couple of ladies additionally enrolled in courses and the basketball workforce received the 1946 WAC ETO Championship. In March 1946 the final of the unit returned to the U.S. with out ceremony or recognition for his or her service. The Military deactivated the 6888th on March 9, 1946 at Camp Kilmer, NJ. “Adams, can your troops march?” Normal Eisenhower’s Communications Zone Commander, Lieutenant Normal John C.H. Lee questioned the 26 year-old Adams throughout dinner on the now Michelin rated 5 star George V Lodge 4 Seasons in Paris. She responded with the one acceptable reply, “Sir, you’ve by no means seen higher marching troops.” Their dialog set in movement one of the iconic movies of the 6888th, marching in Birmingham, England and Adams’ trajectory as an icon of tenacity and resilience. The lodge go to ended the 6888th Legacy Tour however didn’t finish the search for data.
