Farewell Salute to Ms. Indiana Hunt-Martin

(Photo by Col. (Ret) Edna W. Cummings)

By Col. (Ret) Edna W.
Cummings, US. Army

Ms. Indiana Hunt-Martin, who died peacefully on Sept. 21, was born on May 30, 1922 in Uvalda, Georgia.  

At the age of 22, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs), and was assigned to the 855-member 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Six Triple Eight). The Six Triple Eight was the only African American WAC unit to serve in Europe during WWII. 

In February 1945, then Private Hunt was among the first contingent of the Six Triple Eight to cross the Atlantic on the ocean liner, SS Ile de France. During the trip, she recalled German U-boats chasing the ship, and she feared that they would not make it to England alive. Once in England, the 688th Postal Directory Battalion lived in an abandoned school for boys in Birmingham and began the arduous task of sorting a multi-year mail backlog for the seven million Americans stationed in the European Theater of Operations. Led by then Major Charity Adams, the unit adopted the motto, “No Mail, Low Morale,” and worked three shifts in cold, dirty, rat-infested, aircraft hangars with black out curtains to prevent Nazi detection.  These Black women succeeded where other military units failed and cleared the approximately 17 million pieces of mail and package backlog in three months—well under the Army’s six-month expectation. After reducing the mail backlog in Birmingham, they relocated to Rouen and Paris, France. 

(Courtesy Photo)

Ms. Hunt’s service in the Six Triple Eight improved the morale of Americans by connecting them to loved ones by mail–the primary communication mode during WWII. More importantly, receiving mail restored the military’s will to fight and led to the Allied victory. 

After serving one year and three months in the Army, Ms. Hunt-Martin worked for the New York Labor Department for 41 years and retired in 1987. At the time of her death she resided in Laurel, MD with her daughter, Janice. Along with her daughter, she leaves a grandson and many family, friends, and admirers who mourn her passing.