Some More on Dovey Johnson Roundtree

The last post didn't have much on her military service so I looked further.

 From VA News "Veteran of the Day."

Dovey was born in 1914 in North Carolina and graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1938 and briefly taught school in South Carolina before enlisting in the U.S. Army.  She was recruited by Dr. Mary Bethune, among with 39 other black women for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), later became just the Women's  Army Corps (WAC).

Dovey achieved the rank of captain and was responsible for the recruitment of other black women into the unit.

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From Wikipedia "Women's Army Corps."

Black women served in the WAAC and WAC.  Black women serving in the WAC experienced segregation in much the same fashion as they had in civilian life.  Some billets accepted WACs of any race, but others didn't..  Black womnen were taught the same specialties as white women and the races were not separated in at specialty training schools.

The U.S. Army goal was to have 10% of all WACs be Blacks, to reflect the U.S. population, but a shortage of recruits brought only 5.1% black women to the WAC.

The first black woman to become a commissioned officer was Charity Adams Earley.

--GreGen

Five Blacks You Should Know-- Part 2: Charity Adams

Chariry Adams (1918-2000)

Adams, a member of the Women's Army Corps, served as the leader of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.  This was an all-Black unit.  These women delivered mail from the home front to troops in the European Theater, processing an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift.  Before these women got involved with the mail, it was hopelessly backlogged.

By making sure all the mail got through, she and her command helped keep the morale of American troops up.

The 6888th was also the largest group of black women to serve overseas during the war.  Adams saw her duty as showing white Americans what black women could do.  

"What we had was a large group of adult  Negro women who had been victimized, in one way or the other,  by racial bias,"  Adams said later.  "This was one opportunity for us to stand together for a common cause."

--GreGen

Black Female WW II Unit Hoping for Congressional Gold Medal-- Part 2: To get the Mail Delivered

Major Fannie Griffin McClendon said:  "I just wish there were more people  to, if it comes through, there were more people to celebrate it."

The 6888th was sent overseas in1945, partly as a result or black organizations to include black women in the Women's Army  Corps and to allow them to join their white counterparts overseas.

"I think the 6888th, the command inherently knew that their presence overseas meant more than clearing the mail backlog," said Retired Army  Colonel Edna  Cummings, who was not a member of the 6888th but has been advocating for greater recognition for them.  "They were representing  opportunity  for their sisters in arms back in the  United States who were having a hard time dealing with the racism and sexism  within the ranks.

The unit dodges German U-boats on their way  to England and scramble to  escape a German rocket once they reached Glasgow.

They were deployed to unheated, rat-infested  airplane hangers in Birmingham, England, and given a daunting mission:  Process the millions of pieces of undelivered mail for troops, government people and Red Cross workers.

--GreGen

Esther Mae Nesbitt-- Part 4: Received the French Croix de Guerre Medal

Master sergeant and local artist.  Enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in 1943.  Was an intelligence analyst and became custodian of all maps of the European Theater with the responsibility of keeping the war room maps up to date.

For this, she became DeKalb County's only recipient of the French government's Croix de Guerre medal.

After the war, she returned to Sycamore, except for a return to military service during the Korean War.  She lived in Sycamore until her death.  There is some confusion here between this and the previous post.

--GreGen

Esther Mae Nesbitt-- Part 3: Photographer and Artist

On October 1, 1942, she enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Women's Army Corps.  In her civilian life she had been a postal clerk and photographer.

During her years as a WAC, she served as an artist until shortly before her death.  (I am not sure about this as I think the WACs dissolved shortly after the end of the war.  Wikipedia said that the WACs dissolved in 1978 so she might have stayed in rthe rest of her life.

She never married.

--GreGen