Members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion take
part in a parade ceremony in honor of Joan d’Arc at the
marketplace where she was burned at the stake (Rouen, France).
May 27, 1945 The 6888th Postal Battalion was an all female, all
black unit responsible for sorting every piece of mail sent to
US troops in the European theater. Letters from home were vital
to maintaining morale, yet when the 6888th first arrived in
Europe, letters were stacked to the ceiling of their temporary
post office. Some letters had been in storage for as long as two
years. Sorting the 90 billion pieces of mail sent to American
troops in Europe required the women to keep track of the
location of every US solider in Europe, including all 7,500
Robert Smiths. Some mail was merely addressed to “Junior” or
“Buster.” Yet thanks to their round the clock sorting, 65,000
letters went out three times a day to soldiers throughout
Europe. The women served in Birmingham (UK), Rouen (France), and
Paris before being sent home at the end