Florida Senate - 2025                            (NP)    SR 1864
       
       
        
       By Senator Davis
       
       
       
       
       
       5-02542A-25                                           20251864__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the women of the 6888th
    3         Central Postal Directory Battalion for their
    4         unwavering service to the United States Army and its
    5         personnel during World War II.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, organized in late 1944, the 6888th Central Postal
    8  Directory Battalion was an all-black unit of the Women’s Army
    9  Corps (WAC) and the only such WAC unit to be stationed overseas
   10  during World War II, and
   11         WHEREAS, the “Six Triple Eight,” as the 6888th Central
   12  Postal Directory Battalion was known, consisted of five
   13  companies, totaling 855 women, and was led by Major Charity
   14  Adams, and
   15         WHEREAS, more than 3.3 billion pieces of mail went through
   16  military postal services to the front lines in 1945 alone, yet a
   17  lack of qualified postal officers led to a backlog of more than
   18  17 million pieces of mail and packages, many often mislabeled or
   19  incorrectly addressed, and
   20         WHEREAS, the lack of communication from families, friends,
   21  and loved ones in the United States was having a measurable
   22  impact on troop morale on the front lines, with some personnel
   23  not having received mail in years, and
   24         WHEREAS, while assigned to Birmingham, England, the Six
   25  Triple Eight had 6 months to complete the task of sorting,
   26  cataloguing, and delivering the backlog of mail, and
   27         WHEREAS, despite working in derelict buildings in dangerous
   28  territory, without adequate lighting or heat, the women of the
   29  Six Triple Eight worked around the clock, sorting roughly
   30  195,000 pieces of mail a day, and completed their assignment in
   31  90 days, and
   32         WHEREAS, the women of the Six Triple Eight accomplished
   33  this extraordinary feat while overcoming segregation, meager
   34  rations, and harsh conditions, outperforming other Army units
   35  that took weeks to address the same accumulation of mail, and
   36         WHEREAS, in June 1945, the Six Triple Eight was relocated
   37  to Rouen, France, to continue its mission, beginning its work a
   38  few weeks after victory was declared in Europe, and the women
   39  cleared a similarly sized mail backlog as quickly as they did in
   40  England, and
   41         WHEREAS, the Six Triple Eight was awarded the Congressional
   42  Gold Medal by President Joe Biden on March 14, 2022, a
   43  recognition of the battalion’s training and meritorious service
   44  which also acknowledged the racism and sexism of the times, and
   45         WHEREAS, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion’s
   46  efficiency, dedication, and hard work was a valuable and
   47  essential wartime service to the United States, especially to
   48  the many thousands of soldiers and their families, NOW,
   49  THEREFORE,
   50  
   51  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   52  
   53         That the Senate recognizes the women of the 6888th Central
   54  Postal Directory Battalion for their unwavering service to the
   55  United States Army and its personnel during World War II.