“No mail. Low morale.”
The Six Triple Eight is out on Netflix now. The film is a story about perseverance, but it’s also so much more than that. Written and directed by Tyler Perry, It tells the true story of the incredible and brave women of the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to be stationed overseas during World War II, known as the Six Triple Eight.
Before Perry’s film, I admit I had never heard of The Six Triple Eight. That’s probably true about a lot of people. After all, it is a story about Black women and their contributions to the Army. As we all know, Black people’s contributions have been severely overlooked in American History, and that certainly includes the armed forces. But this is an important story we should all know about, and I am so glad that Perry was the one to take on this project.
The Six Triple Eight begins with a love story as we meet Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian) and Abram David (Gregg Sulkin). The two were childhood friends who were smitten with one another. Abram, who is in the Army, is tragically killed. Lena then decides that she wants to enlist in the Army to “fight Hitler.” She joins the US Army’s Women’s Army Corps, where she meets Johnnie Mae (Shanice Shantay), Dolores Washington (Sarah Jeffrey), and Elaine White (Pepi Sonuga). They don’t know what they are getting themselves into when they join, and they all assume that because they are Black women, they probably won’t even get to the point where they can serve their country. That doesn’t mean they can skate by, which is evident when they step off the jeep and head inside to meet Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington) and her second in command, Captain Campbell (Milauna Jackson).
Major Adams is tough, but she has to be. She knows that being Black and a woman makes them easy targets for all their detractors. Therefore, she takes the ladies through rigorous training because she wants them to be prepared for anything. When they eventually get called in to serve, it’s not for the reason she expected. She and her unit, comprised of 855 women, who became known as The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, were tasked with sorting through a three-year backlog of mail containing 17 million pieces that hadn’t been delivered to American soldiers far from home. The deadline they were given to do this was Six months.
“Our war starts with being negro.”
As you can imagine, doing this was no easy feat. Sorting through 17 million pieces of mail that included rat-eaten care packages is a lot of work, but it becomes even more work when you have a battle to fight within your own military. While the women were working hard to meet their goal, time was not the only thing that wasn’t on their side. Racism and sexism were one of their biggest battles. From the moment they were assigned to head to Europe, they faced multiple difficult conditions, from the journey over on the ship to the conditions of King Edward’s School, where they set up their post. Nothing was ready for them, so they had to clean the place and create an area to sort through the mail. As Major Adams told them, many people were hoping for their failure, and they were given the mission because they knew it was virtually impossible. The first two months they’re in Europe do not go well because all the mail they send is returned and deemed undeliverable. Because they were never given a plan for how they should be handling the mail, the ladies had to work together to come up with their process.
“They did not send us because they thought we could do it. We are here because they are sure we cannot.”
As I watched The Triple Six Eight, I was in awe of everything the ladies did to get the mail sorted. One moment that stood out was how they used perfume to identify the letters. Because some of the soldiers’ wives and girlfriends had sprayed perfume on their letters, the 6888 bought perfume and used the scents to figure out the states where the bottles were purchased so that they could identify where to send the letters. None of this ingenuity seemed to matter to General Halt (Dean Norris), who decided to show up for an inspection. Obviously, given the type of person he was, I didn’t expect him to be nice anyway because he wanted the women to fail. It also didn’t surprise me that he was so unmoved because he never showed an ounce of concern that the soldiers and their families didn’t receive their mail. To him, it was a waste of time.
Instead of being grateful for their work, he found reasons to try and shut down what he called a “little experiment.” This man dared to show up and call into question a process they built to fix a mess he had created. The confrontation between him and Major Adams was one of my favorites, and Kerry Washington was phenomenal in her delivery. My eyes were glued to the TV as I watched her say, “Over my dead body,” as he attempted to tell her he was going to remove her from her post. She lays out everything that she and her soldiers have gone through, including the loss of their own in an explosion and the fact that they had to take up a collection to come up with the funds for a proper burial because they wouldn’t even help them bury their own. The 6888th Battalion has given their lives for this, so General Halt showing up to act as if they haven’t done anything was too much for her to bear.
For everyone in the 6888th Battalion, this mission means more than it did at the start, especially to Lena. This is a deeply personal mission to her because she can understand what the families and the soldiers are going through. Abram told her that he would write to her while he was away. She never received a letter, so she wonders if his letter may be mixed in. Her passion for the work makes Major Adams realize the importance as well.
Despite all they faced, The Six Triple Eight delivered every piece of mail in less than 90 days. These women made a significant impact. They restored hope and faith where there was none. Unfortunately, they were not recognized for their efforts as they should have been. The film is only two hours long, so we were not told every part of the story, but Perry managed to weave a beautiful movie with The Six Triple Eight. It was a story of love, loss, and joy. Through this story, the legacy of the 6888th Battalion will live on.
The Six Triple Eight is available to stream now on Netflix.
