Nevertheless, she persisted. The definition of perseverance is “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” This episode is dedicated to notable women who persevered through incredible odds. “A woman is like a tea bag. She only knows her strength when put in hot water.” – Nancy Regan
6888th Unit
Did you know that an all-Black Women's Army Corps unit sorted millions of pieces of mail in unheated warehouses during World War II. According to the Department of Defense, unit Six Triple Eight was made up of about 850 Black women who were tasked with overcoming a massive backlog of mail - sorting millions of pieces of mail for frontline soldiers during World War II. They traveled to Great Britain in 1945, surviving encounters with Nazi U-boats and a German rocket explosion along the way, before spending months sorting through mail and packages stacked to the ceiling in unheated warehouses.
However, they unit set up a new mail tracking system and cleared the six-month backlog of mail in just three months. By the end of the war, the unit processed about 17 million pieces of mail. The "Six Triple Eight" was tasked with.
Like much of the country, the military was segregated throughout World War II. Black service members faced continuous racism, and the women of the 6888th have sharp memories of being segregated on trains, spat at and demeaned by White men and women.
The unit later was moved to France and then ultimately disbanded without any fanfare in 1946. There were no commemorative ceremonies for members when they came home at the end of the war.
President Joe Biden signed a bill into law on March 14 that awards a Congressional Gold Medal to the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the "Six Triple Eight." The honor was granted "in recognition of their pioneering military service, devotion to duty, and contributions to increase the morale of personnel stationed in the European theater of operations during World War II."