![]() This was the only line of communication for Army members to family and friends back home in America. ![]() ![]() service people stationed abroad during World War II. ![]() Let’s get started.Ĭummings: Chris, I have a mission for you.Ĭhris Klimek: The Six Triple Eight was sent overseas to untangle the tremendous backlog of mail waiting to be opened by U.S. We’ll also hear from some of the Six Triple Eight’s living members. This was the only World War II battalion exclusively made up of women of color. In this episode, Colonel Cummings and Smithsonian magazine journalist Jennie Rothenberg Gritz introduce us to the Six Triple Eight. Although Colonel Cummings never got to meet her in person, learning about her life sent Colonel Cummings down a path that changed everything.įrom Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions, this is “There’s More to That,” the show where we honor the trailblazers of the past who impact our lives today. Klimek: The Adams in Fort Gregg-Adams is Lieutenant Colonel Charity Edna Adams. But he’s a legend because he entered the military at a time post-World War II and was tasked with desegregating Fort Lee. Colonel Cummings got to meet him early in her own military career.Ĭummings: He was one of my heroes, and I didn’t talk to generals that much. Gregg, who in 1977 became the first Black Army officer to achieve that high rank. Klimek: The Gregg in Fort Gregg-Adams is Lieutenant General Arthur J. I think it just is a reminder of pride, resilience and leadership, and a new set of role models that young people can embrace and look up to. Now it bears the names of two Black military officers.Ĭummings: Just that alone, to replace one of the premier symbols of the Confederacy with two African Americans who contributed so much, we are still learning the impacts. Lee, the head of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Klimek: Fort Lee was named after Robert E. Because I attended the event, and, when I saw it happen, it was one of those quiet moments. Retired Army Colonel Edna Cummings was at the dedication ceremony.Ĭolonel Edna Cummings: The significance of renaming Fort Lee to Fort Gregg-Adams, I am still unpacking that. One facility in Virginia, known as Fort Lee, was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams. Army bases that previously honored Confederate soldiers. Robert Oppenheimer, the vanishing Colorado River, and Barbie, find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.Ĭhris Klimek: Earlier this year, a fresh chapter in American history began. To subscribe to “There’s More to That,” and to listen to past episodes on J. On our latest episode of the Smithsonian magazine podcast “There’s More to That,” I speak with Cummings and with Smithsonian magazine senior writer Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, who wrote about the Six Triple Eight for our March 2023 issue, about the long road to getting the women of the battalion their proper recognition-including a Congressional Gold Medal awarded in 2022, almost eight decades after their deployment.Ī transcript is below. She made it her business to help the women of the battalion-some of whom are still with us-get their much-belated due. But Cummings had served an entire career as an Army officer without ever having heard their story. The officers and enlisted women of the Six Triple Eight had been given a difficult mission, and they’d succeeded. It was the only unit composed entirely of Black women to have been deployed overseas during the war, and it had served a critical function: clearing the backlog of mail that marked the only line of communication between American soldiers in Europe and their loved ones back home. Adams had died in 2002, a year before Cummings’ retirement, but Cummings became fascinated with her story-and with that of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the unit Adams had commanded. Army for more than a decade when she became aware of a distinguished World War II veteran with whom she shared a name: Lieutenant Colonel Charity Edna Adams. Colonel Edna Cummings had already been retired from the U.S.
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