By AFRO Staff
Anna Mae Robertson, one of the last known surviving members of the famed 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, died May 30. She was 101.
Robertson, and all the 855 members of the “Six Triple Eight,” as the unit is called, are inspiring a new generation of Americans now that their historic contributions and courage are receiving long overdue recognition. In April, the women were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their sacrifice in World War II (WWII). And, late last year, Tyler Perry’s Netflix film “The Six Triple Eight,” starring Kerry Washington, shone a global spotlight on the trailblazing military veterans.
“It was an unforgettable privilege to kneel beside this elder and thank her for her service, and to talk with her about the film we’ve made that is inspired by their bravery, and to hug her and express my love and gratitude for her journey,” Washington said late last year after meeting Robertson. “The courage of these women—facing not only war but the deep injustices of their time— is unmatched. Their service was revolutionary, driven by love of country and dedication to one another.”
The 6888th was formed in 1944 after a hard fought campaign by Mary McLeod Bethune and her allies to include Black women in the Women’s Army Corps. They became the first and only all-female African American unit deployed overseas during WWII, when in 1945 they were sent to England to sort and distribute backlogged mail intended for U.S. troops, government personnel and Red Cross workers serving in the European theater.
The task was a daunting one: boost troop morale by sorting and delivering the millions of letters and packages that filled several hangars to the ceilings–while also doing what was necessary to sustain themselves in the segregated unit.
The women processed an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift, oftentimes having to decipher the intended party’s name based on little or ineligible information.
“Some of the letters were addressed to just ‘Buster’ or ‘Junior,’” said retired Army Col. Edna Cummings, a Six Triple Eight expert who was instrumental in the group’s congressional recognition, in an interview with DAV.org, a veterans support organization. “Can you imagine receiving the letter [addressed to] ‘Buster, Europe’?”
The 6888th was given six months to clear the estimated 17 million pieces of mail moldering in the warehouses. They completed the job in three. Then, they went on to different posts in France to do the same.
“You had some of the best and brightest minds in the nation who were able to solve a problem,” Cummings said.
Robertson joined the Women’s Army Corps as a means of becoming self-sufficient.
She was born March 5, 1924, and grew up in Osceola, Arkansas, where her family worked on a crop farm, according to DAV.org. After her mother died, a young Robertson and her brother were effectively orphaned, and struggled with poverty as they bounced around from one relative’s house to another.
Both she and her brother saw the military as a way out of poverty, and by 1945, Robertson had enlisted and trained in several states before being assigned to the 6888th.
“I feel like I was a different person after we had to sail across the ocean,” Robertson said in a 2014 interview with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
But despite the monumental task they faced and the inherent danger of war, Robertson said in that interview that she was more afraid returning home than she was entering military service.
“I had a lot more to worry about because it’s all on you. Otherwise, the Army [was] taking care of everything,” she said, later adding, “I had to get out on my own sometime to start doing something.”
Robertson followed a friend to Milwaukee and stayed. She worked at a fish factory, at first, but eventually gained employment as a nurse’s aide, including at the currently named Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee. Within a few years, she met and married John Robertson, also a World War II veteran, and had seven daughters and one son.
Sheree Robertson, her daughter, described her mother as a devoted parent with an infectious spirit, who despite the rigors of raising eight children and juggling various jobs always made time for their special treat – homemade french fries. But, Sheree also remembered her mother’s stories about her military service.
“My mother talked about her military service to her children, particularly to me because I was interested in my mother’s military service as a child,” Sheree told DAV.org. “Based on what she shared with me, she always focused on the sisterhood of the Six Triple Eight and how the women looked out for each other. And she would say things like, ‘Oh, we shared each other’s clothes, we did each other’s hair.’ They were just like family.”
Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who represents Milwaukee on Capitol Hill, said she was honored Robertson chose to make the city her adopted home. (The WWII veteran had been slated to lead the city’s Juneteenth celebration as grand marshal, an honor her family will now fulfill.) Rep. Moore said she was also honored to have played a role in championing legislation to award Six Triple Eight members the Congressional Gold Medal.
“After receiving the Congressional Gold Medal and national recognition decades after her heroic service,” Moore said in a statement, “I am thankful that my constituent, Ms. Robertson, was able to receive her flowers while she could still smell them.”