On April 29, 2025, Associate Research Professor Lena Andrews attended the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony and reception for the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the largest all-Black unit of U.S. Army women to serve overseas in World War II. The legislation granting the unit a Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress—was passed by the House of Representatives in 2021 and by the Senate in 2022, and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in the same year; but the medal itself was not ready for presentation until 2024.
Professor Andrews was invited to attend the formal ceremony by the veterans working behind the scenes in the years-long effort to get the legislation passed. Andrews met this passionate group of advocates while working her book, Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II, which documents the contributions of American women who served in uniform during World War II. “I am so thrilled to see the Six Triple Eight getting their deserved credit,” said Andrews. “They epitomize the excellence, patriotism, and grit on which American victory has always and will continue to rely.”
Known widely by their nickname, the Six Triple Eight, the unit deployed to Europe during the final phase of the Allied fight against Germany and was responsible for clearing a backlog of mail that had been collecting for months in a vermin-infested warehouse in Birmingham, England. No military or civilian unit was able to make sense of the piles of mail intended for American soldiers fighting on the front lines, until the Six Triple Eight arrived and did what no other unit could do: they cleared the backlog in half the time they were allotted. Although the unit has recently been the subject of some attention, including a 2024 film recognizing their contributions, the Six Triple Eight’s work has remained mostly unrecognized by the United States government since the unit was demobilized in 1946. “This recognition is long overdue,” said Andrews, “and these women will never be forgotten.”
