National Women’s History Month

“WASHINGTON, November 25, 2024 – Mail is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of war, but ask any service member, and they’ll tell you how important mail call is to keeping troop morale high. During the darkest days of World War II in Great Britain and France, the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion were tasked with ensuring troops received their letters and packages from back home…..

Upon arrival, the Six Triple Eight found warehouses filled with a backlog of about 18 million packages and pieces of mail. The buildings lacked sufficient heating and lighting. At this time, there were around 7 million American servicemen and civilian workers in the European theater, and they had become frustrated with not receiving their mail.

With a deadline of six months, the women of the 6888th readied for a massive operation. Splitting into three shifts, they worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They created their own organization system, including an index system with more than 7 million individual cards to sort similar names by military serial number. More than 65,000 pieces of mail were handled each shift.

Through hard work and dedication to getting the warfighters their mail, the Six Triple Eight cleared the backlog in Britain in only three months… “ – By Pete Lewis | National Archives News

For more information visit: 6888th Postal Battalion Delivered High Spirits to Weary WWII Troops | National Archives