By Cindy Summers –
4 out of 4 palm trees
The Six Triple Eight is based on the incredible true story of the Negro Women’s Army Corp (WAC) that served overseas during WWI and battled racism and sexism while soldiers battled on the front lines. The women of WAC 6888 first met in 1944 and were stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia under the command of Captain Charity Adams (Kerry Washington). Captain Adams demanded perfection, no exceptions saying that because they were Negroes and women they did not have the luxury to be as good as the white soldiers, they had the burden to be better.
It was brought to the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt all over the country families were not hearing from those serving in the war for months. President Roosevelt and Eleanor along with Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey), who head of the National Council of Negro Women and served on the president’s Black cabinet, met two Army Generals about the mail issue and it’s affect on soldiers’ morale. The Generals said that the resources required to resolve the mail issue had a higher priority in serving the front lines. Little did they know at the time that the mail the soldiers were sending were not being delivered either.
The suggestion was made to use Negro WAC troops, and the generals reluctantly agreed believing Negro women did not possess the intelligence to be successful. The Negro WAC troops were sent to Europe and on the plane Major Adams, just having been promoted, read her orders that they were being assigned to Postal Battalion. Major Adams was given six months to complete sorting the mail situation, though she had no idea the depth of the problem.
When Major Adams got to where the mail was kept in Glasgo, Scotland in 1945, there were countless hangers filled with nearly 17 million pieces of undelivered mail that had been sitting there for 10 months. Soldiers were not hearing from their loved ones and their loved ones were not hearing from them and the defense department was getting thousands of complaints. Soldiers’ morale was at an all time low and with no morale they had no fight, so it was up to the 6888 to give them hope to deliver family letters and care packages, and word back home to their families.
They took over an old school and had the mail delivered by truck to sort through the endless bags without most general comforts. They worked together to clean and organize the school into a well organized work area and comfortable housing including a mess hall and even a hair salon. Two months into the mission, it was determined that a majority of the mail was being returned undeliverable because the troops were moving around. They together developed some theories based upon clues on the mail they had handled that they could use to increase their delivery rate.
The racist general that was given the mission by Roosevelt looked for any reason to come down on Majors Adams and her troops as he did not want the women to succeed or even be there at all. Since Roosevelt recently died, he threatened to shut down the mission and relieve Major Adams and replace her with a man. She defiantly refused to let him and stood up for the women at risk of being court-martialed. Once the mail was moving again, it completely changed the morale of the troops and inspired hope to families back home.
The 6888 processed 17 million pieces of mail in 90 days and then was sent to another location to clean up another similar situation. Though not initially recognized back home due to the racial climate, later they were awarded the congressional medal of honor and Lieutenant Colonel Adams was honored in 2023 when US Army Base Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams.
Runtime: 2h 9m
