We are in Richmond, Virginia near Fort Gregg-Adams, formerly known as Fort Lee. On 27 April 2023 the name of Fort Lee was changed to Fort Gregg-Adams after two African American officers Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.The name change was part of an effort to rename military assets associated with the Confederacy. Fort Gregg-Adams is the first base named for African Americans. Charity Adams is a very inspirational person. I recommend watching the 2024 movie, “The Six Triple Eight” on Netflix about Lt. Col Charity Adam’s acomplishments.
Charity Adams was born on December 5, 1918, in Kittrell, North Carolina, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School as valedictorian and from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1938, majoring in math and physics. After graduation, she returned to Columbia, where she taught mathematics at the local high school while studying part-time for a M.A. degree in psychology at the Ohio State University, receiving her master’s degree in 1946.
Adams enlisted in the U.S. Army’s Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in July 1942. She was the first African-American woman to be an officer in the WAAC and was the commanding officer of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was made up of African-American women serving overseas during World War II.. The 6888 was stationed first in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham, England. Three months later they were moved to Rouen, France and then to Paris. They were responsible for the delivery of millions of pieces of mail to soldiers during World War II. Wikipedia
Mail written to the troops would be sent overseas to Europe and processed by a postal battalion, but by 1945 multiple warehouses in Birmingham, England contained mail for soldiers that had not been distributed. The backlog would take six months to process. At the time, there were about 7 million American soldiers and government workers in Europe. Service members were frustrated about not receiving their letters.
In the waning months of World War II, the 855 women of color who comprised the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion — 824 enlisted Soldiers and 31 officers — completed a time-sensitive mission in the European Theater of Operations. Army leadership believed their success would be key to boosting morale amongst the 7 million war-weary American service members, U.S. Government personnel, and Red Cross workers stationed throughout Europe in 1945. The mission? To label, sort, and clear millions of pieces of mail — including letters, photographs, and gifts — that had been stockpiled and left languishing in warehouses for months, even years. One general predicted it would take six months to process the massive backlog of undelivered mail, yet the battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight,” managed to do it in just three. (National Museum of the U.S. Army)
Perspectives on the Road 
Leave a comment