The mountain of mail had piled up and the troops were complaining about lost letters and delayed care packages. Thus their motto, "No Mail, Low Morale."
"They kept hollering about wanting us to go overseas so I guess they found something for us to do overseas: Take care of the mail," Major Fannie Griffin McClendon said. "And, there was an awful loy of mail. ...They expected we were gonna be there about two to three months trying to get it straightened out. Well, I think in about a month, in a month and a half, we had it all straightened out and going in the right direction."
The 6888th toiled around the clock, processing about 65,000 pieces of mail in each of the three shifts. They created a system using locator cards with a service member's name and unit number to ensure mail was delivered. Sometimes they had to resort to detective work when a parcel only had a common name or a service member's nickname.
Despite their achievements, the unit endured questions and criticism from people who did not support black women in the military.
Housing, mess halls and recreation facilities were segregated by race and sex, forcing them to set up all their own operations. The unit commander, Major Charity Adams, was also criticized by a general who threatened to give her command to a white officer. She reportedly responded: "Over my dead body, sir."
--GreGen
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