Lt. Col.

Charity Adams EarlEy

“When I talk to students, they say,

‘How did it feel to know you were
making history?’ But you don’t know
you’re making history when it’s
happening. I just wanted to do my
job.”
-Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams
Earley

This work will show the unsung heroes

Always remember of black World War II Veterans in the
the Past, build in 6888th Battalion. This history has
the Present, and been not known by many human
beings, but 2024 is the year of true,
Seek a Better august revelations in the world (as we
Future. Also, Do have seen). Therefore, it is critically
imperative for this story of these
the Right Thing human beings to be known to the
in this Life. public. I heard of their stories almost
10 years ago, and it is the perfect time
to let the Earth know about their
sacrifice and true determination to
defeat fascism during World War II.
In 2024, we still want fascism (as
found in the MAGA culture, by
Orban, etc.) defeated too.
 The Table of Contents
Private Ruth L. James was at the gates of
the battalion's facility in Rouen during a
1945 "open house" attended by hundreds
1. Overture
of other African American soldiers.

2. The Beginning of Her

Life

3. More of Her Service

During World War II

4.Her Service After the War

“…Despite these extra burdens,

Black women who served in the
WAAC/WAC during World War II
went on to distinguish themselves.
The 6888th Postal Battalion
Directory was given the “impossible”
task of getting the backlog of mail
moving in six months. They cleared
the backlog in three. Black female
o icers trained all of the Black
women who enlisted in the corps.
They showed the top brass what
Black women were capable of
achieving, if only given a chance…”

- Kaia Alderson, author of her debut

historical novel Sisters in Arms: A
Novel of the Daring Black Women
Who Served During World War II.
The legacy of heroes remains permanent in our consciousness. We live in a new generation now.
We, who are older Millennials are in our late 30’s and early 40’s now. I am 40 years old now being
an older Millennial, and I am thankful to live in the world today. A lot of people, even in 2024,
didn't know that black women were very active in the military during World War II courageously
fighting against fascism. Decades ago, World War II existed, but its impact on our society is
paramount from new technology to the end of overt colonialism in many parts of the world (from
Africa to Asia). It is certainly time to salute a black woman who risked her life for our freedom.
She continues to live on with her legacy despite her physically on here on Earth. The late
Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley lived from December 5, 1918, to January 13, 2002. She
was an American United States Army officer. She made history in enumerable ways. She was the
first African American woman to be an officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later
WACs) and the commanding officer of the first battalion of African American women to serve
overseas during World War II. Adams was the highest-ranking African American woman in the
U.S. Army by the completion of the war. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion helped
to deliver mail throughout the U.S. Armed Forces amid enemy lines. Their motto was "No Mail,
Low Morale." There is a monument honoring the military group of women at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas on November 30, 2018. Lt. Col. Charity Adams Early served from 1942 to 1946 during her
life. She fought Jim Crow apartheid and gave opportunities for future women military leaders.
Heroes like Isabella Peterson Evans, Millie Dunn Veasey, Mildred Gates Hooper, Romay Johnson
Davi, and other human beings have shown courage and heroism. Charity led the largest unite of
Black women soldiers during World War II. Therefore, we honor Lt. Colonel Charity Adams
Early as a champion for our freedom and a beacon of light for freedom in general.
 Retired Master Sgt. Elizabeth Helm-Frazier touched the bust made in the likeness of battalion
commander Lt. Col. Charity Adams on the monument honoring the all-women, all-African American
6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion on Nov. 29, 2018 (Photo Credit: U.S. Army)

The Beginning of Her Life

Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley was born in the South at Kittrell, North Carolina on
December 5, 1918. Later, she grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She was inspired by her
parents to earn a great education. She was a high achiever. Her father, a college graduate, was an
African Methodist Episcopal minister. He was a scholar who was fluent in Greek and Hebrew.
Her mother was a schoolteacher, who taught Charity at a young age. Adams was the oldest of
four children. Charity Adams Earley was a very intelligent person who skipped two grades in
elementary school. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School as valedictorian and
from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1938, majoring in math and physics. After graduation,
she returned to Columbia where she taught mathematics at the local high school while studying
part-time for a M.A. degree in psychology at Ohio State University, receiving her master's degree
in 1946. Adams enlisted in the United States Army's Women's Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in July
1942. She was the first African American woman to be an officer in the WAAC. During that
time, the U.S. Army was very much segregated. That means that she was placed in a company
with fellow African American women officers and stationed at Fort Des Moines. In 1943, she was
assigned to be the training supervisor at base headquarters. By early 1944, Adams was reassigned
to the Training Center control officer in charge of improving job training and efficiency. She
had other jobs like surveying officer (finding lost property) and summary court officer (handling
women's minor offenses). In December 1944, Adams led the only company of black WACs ever
to serve overseas. They were stationed in Birmingham, England. The women began to socialize
with the citizens and broke through prejudices. Adams was put in charge of a postal directory
service unit. Another part of her job included raising the morale of women. Adams achieved this
by creating beauty parlors for women to relax and socialize in. They fought against both racism
and sexism during that time period of the 1940’s.

More Of Her Service During World

War II
On January 28, 1945, Charity Adams stood in front of an airplane hangar filled with piles of
undelivered Christmas packages. She wanted that to change to deliver messages to people. In
March 1945, she was appointed the commanding officer of the first battalion of African
American women, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (whose nickname was the “Six
Triple Eight”). They were stationed first in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Three months later,
they were moved to Rouen, France, then to Paris. They were responsible for the delivery of mail
to over seven million soldiers during World War II. Lt. Charity Adams organized a great plan to
send mail during World War II. She organized the Six Triple Eight into 4 companies called A, B,
C, and D. Each of the companies had specific jobs or roles. Then, she split the company into three
groups that worked into 8 hours shifts each. Then, they were sorting mail 24 hours per day, 7
days per week. The women worked hard to verify the correct recipient of each letter, find the
soldiers’ locations, and be investigators to make their work very efficient. The Six Triple Eight
processed about 65,000 pieces of mail every single day. Charity was told to clear all the backlogged
mail in 6 months, and the Six Triple Eight did in half that time period.

Second Lieutenant Freda le Beau served Major Charity Adams a soda at the
opening of the battalion's snack bar in Rouen, France.

The Black WACs members during World War II was about 850 women in total. Charity Adams
Earley felt liberated in London, because she experienced less discrimination in London than in
America during that time period. By the end of the war, Lieutenant Colonel Adams was the
highest-ranking African American woman in the military, which was an outstanding
accomplishment. When she was asked about her groundbreaking achievement, Adams responded
by saying, "I just wanted to do my job." She decided to leave the service in 1946 when she was
called to serve at the Pentagon. Growing up in the South, Adams experienced the hardships of
segregation. When she entered the Army, she still faced discrimination but was not afraid to
speak up and fight for desegregation in the Army. One of the first battles Adams fought for
equality was when the Army proposed segregating the training regimen. When she was told she
would head one of the segregated regiments, she refused. The Army subsequently decided against
creating separate regiments. On another occasion, when a general stated, "I'm going to send a
white first lieutenant down here to show you how to run this unit", then-Major Adams
responded, "Over my dead body, sir." The general threatened to court-martial her for disobeying
orders. She then began to file charges against him for using "language stressing racial segregation"
and ignoring a directive from Allied headquarters. They both dropped the matter, and the
general later came to respect Adams. When the Red Cross tried to donate equipment for a new
segregated recreation center, Adams refused it because her unit had been sharing the recreation
center with white units. She wanted her battalion to socialize with people of all colors to establish
a comradeship between enlisted personnel and officers to ease the tensions of racism. After the
Nazis surrendered by May 1945, Charity and the Six Triple Eight soldiers were in Rouen to clear
another postal jam. Then, they moved to Paris in the fall of 1945. They were ordered to go home
to America in December 1945.

One World War II veteran part of the Historic

6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion is retired
Air Force Major Fannie Griffin McClendon. She now
lives in Temple, Arizona. She is now over 100 years
old. Being humble is part of her personality. When
she was 19 years old, she enlisted in the United States
Army. Back then, her work changed the whole world.
The Battalion was made up of about 855 black women
who went to England and France to fight fascism
during World War II. "To be able to be over in Europe
and all and see the things that I had studied about
Cpl. Annie Braceful was sorting mail
over the years – really quite enlightening,"
here. The source of this image is from
McClendon said. The motto of the organization was
U.S. Signal.
"no mail, low morale." McClendon was the first
woman commander of an all-men squadron with the
Strategic Air Command. Her late husband was Roy.
 Dovey Johnson Roundtree lived from April 17, 1914, to May 21,
2018. She lived to be 104 years old. She was part of the newly
created Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women’s
Army Corps) during World War II. She also was an ordained
minister who was part of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. She was in the Women’s Bar of the District of Columbia
in 1962. As a professional attorney, Roundtree won the acquittal
of the black laborer accused of murdering May Pinchot (the
former wife of a CIA officer) in United States v. Ray Crump.
Roundtree was a civil rights activist too. She had a 1955 victory
before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus
desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the
only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in
the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal
administrative body. That case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach
African American woman Company (64 MCC 769 (1955)), which Dovey Roundtree
brought before the ICC with her law partner and mentor Julius
military leader and civil rights Winfield Robertson, was invoked by Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy during the 1961 Freedom Riders' campaign in his
activist Dovey Johnson successful battle to compel the Interstate Commerce
Commission to enforce its rulings and end Jim Crow laws in
Roundtree. public transportation. Roundtree was a protégé of black activist
and educator Mary McLeod Bethune.

"They were victims of both racism and sexism; the majority from their leadership," said Keshia
Javis-Jones. She is a Marine Corps veteran and ambassador of the Foundation for Women
Warriors. In 1945, in a written report compiled at the end of the war, Kathryn Blood, a researcher
or the Department of Labor studying the wartime contributions of Black women, wrote the
following about the Black Rosies:

“The contribution [of Black women] is one which this nation would be
unwise to forget or evaluate falsely.”
Hilda P. Griggs was another unsung hero of World
War II. She was part of the 6888th Battalion. Many of
these heroes worked in Birmingham, UK, Rouen,
France, and Paris, France. Their initial training was
at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. By 1945, February 4th, the
unit left Fort Shank, New York. They arrived at
England on Valentine’s Day, 1945. “There was
always something to do,” Griggs recounts. “If there
was nothing in our quarters, then we would go to
the headquarters and do whatever they had there.”
 More Unsung Heroes of the 6888th Battalion

Cresencia Joyce Garcia Gladys E. Blount was Anna Mae Wilson Robertson was Lena Derriecott Bell King
enlisted at the U.S. Army at honored in East Orange, born in Mississippi and moved to lives in Las Vegas, Nevada
the age of 24 after being New Jersey for her role in the Arkansas as a child. She lives in now. She enlisted into the
enraged by the cowardly 6888th Battalion. The unit Wisconsin now. Her brother Women’s Army Corps on
bombing of Pearl Harbor. She worked three shifts around joined the Navy, and she joined November 23, 1943, from
worked at basic training in the clock in a warehouse in the Women’s Army Corps by her home of residence in
Texas. She lived from April the United Kingdom. Willie March 12, 1943. She served with Philadelphia. She was in
18, 1920, to August 3, 2023. Davis IV, Blount’s grandson distinction and honor, being the motor pool overseas.
She lived in Queens, New said that the celebration of honorably discharged in February She was a nurse, worked at
York City. She was born in her accomplishments may 1945 at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. the VA plus other hospitals,
Puerto Rico. She was raised have been a long time She married and was a nursing and won an Army Fashion
in the Bronx while growing coming but it’s right on time. assistant for many VA Hospitals Design Scholarship. She
up. She joined the military in She is from East Orange, and hospitals. She has seven worked in business,
1944. Crescencia Garacia New Jersey. "She is still just daughters, one son, 17 studied Pharmacology with
worked in Birmingham, amazed at the attention this grandchildren, 23 great Kaiser Permanent, and
England diligently. Tara has gotten, and I'm happy for grandchildren, and three great worked in the
Garcia is her grandchild. her and all the women still great grandchildren. Neurosurgery Department
living," said Blount's at a UCLA Hospital. She is
daughter, Eva Davis. Eva retired as a nurse with
Davis also said, "A lot of Kaiser Permanent.
things we take for granted
that should not be. You think
about how many people
were so relieved to get this
mail, that they’re loved ones
sent this mail. They got it late,
but better late than never, so
it's beautiful."
 Her Service After the War
Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Early devoted her post war life to community service. She
served on the Board of Directors of Dayton Power and Light, the Dayton Metro Housing
Authority, the Dayton Opera Company, the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross,
and the Board of Trustees of Sinclair Community College. Dayton is a city in Ohio. Adams
volunteered for United Way, the United Negro College Fund, the Urban League, and the YWCA.
She also co-directed the Black Leadership Development Program. Adams earned many honors
and awards. Adams earned the Woman of the Year award from the National Council of Negro
Women in 1946, the Top Ten Women of the Miami Valley Dayton Daily News award in 1965,
and the Service to the Community Award from the Ohio State Senate in 1989. In 1987, she
received the Senior Citizens Gold Watch Award. Adams was listed on the Smithsonian
Institution's 110 Most Important Historical Black Women, Black Women Against the Odds
award, in 1982. She was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Ohio
Veterans Hall of Fame in 1993. She was also inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame
and named Citizen of the Year by The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 1991.

In 1997, Adams was included in the BellSouth African American History Calendar. She also
received honorary doctorates from Wilberforce University and the University of Dayton in 1991.
Dayton Public Schools named one of their all-girls elementary schools in her honor (the "Charity
Adams Earley Girls Academy"). In 1949, Adams married Stanley A. Earley, Jr. They moved to
Switzerland for a time while Stanley completed medical school. They returned to the U.S. in 1952
 and settled in Dayton, Ohio where they had two children, Stanley III, and Judith Earley. Adams
passed away at age 83 on January 13, 2002, in Dayton, Ohio.

Annie N. Graham was the first Anne E. Lamb-Ellis was the Annie L. Grimes was from Chicago
black woman to be enlisted in the second black woman to enlist in and was the third black woman to
United States Marine Corps on the Marine Corps. She was be enlisted in the United States
September 8, 1949. She served in enlisted in Detroit Michigan. Her Marines in 1950. After basic
the Marines until 1952, and her friends are Annie Graham and training, Private First Class Grimes
legacy plus service is honored by Annie L. Grimes. worked in the Marine Corps
us. Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
She was promoted to Corporal,
Sergeant, and Sta Sergeant. She
was the first black woman o icer
to retire after a full 20-year career.

We wi always remember the icons of the 6888th Baalion.

 The picture above showed the children of Lt. Col. Charity Adams. They are Stanley and Judith
Earley, and they were present on stage during a renaming ceremony at Fort Lee, Va., honoring their
mother. Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in honor of Adams
and Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, two Black Army officers who helped pave the way for an integrated
military. (Source of the Picture: Matthew Adams/Stars and Stripes)

The U.S. Army awarded the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion a “meritorious Unit
Commendation” in 2019 for its outstanding service in World War II. On August 8, 2022, The
Naming Commission of the US Department of Defense made recommendations for US Army
post name changes for facilities named after Confederate soldiers. Among them was that Fort
Lee, Virginia be redesignated Fort Gregg-Adams, after Lieutenant General Arthur J. Gregg and
Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley. On October 6, 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd
Austin accepted the recommendation and directed that the name change occur no later than
January 1, 2024. The name changes officially occurred on April 27, 2023.

She was courageous in the military and in her teacher

career. She taught many people not just about STEM
subjects. She taught people at New Hanover High School
in North Carolina about compassion, about discipline,
and a spirit of hard work to achieve magni cent goals.
She lived in Virginia, Miami (in Florida), and in
Wilmington, North Carolina. Jacqueline Claud also had
many friends, a son, studied spirituality at Macedonia
Missionary Baptist Church. She taught at Cape Fear
Community College in computer technology.

Honoring the Legacy of My Last 1st Cousin and Military Veteran

Jacqueline Marie Claude (1949-2015)
 EXTRA VISUAL STORIES OF THE WOMEN’S
ARMY CORPS’ 6888TH BATTALION

The images above are part of rare This is the logo of the 6888th These soldiers are having joy in
video footage of the 6888th Battalion Battalion military forces. delivering about 17 million pieces
black women military forces doing of mail to the Allied Powers during
drills and basic training. World War II.

These are the 6888th Battalion An unnamed servicewoman The picture above showed the
marching in a location. Captain and Capt. Mildred D. Carter, black women soldiers sorting out
Adams here is drilling her company at on the right, oversaw all mail constantly in France by
the first W.A.A.C. training center in recreational activities for the November 1945. These human
Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in 1943. The battalion. The credit of his beings were helping families and
credit of this image is from: 6888th photo above is the U.S. defending democracy in the world.
Central Postal Directory Battalion and Signal Corps.
the National Archives.
Anna Mae Robertson served
in the Women’s Army Corps
during World War II in the
6888th Central Postal
Directory Battalion. She
inspired other people and Annie Mae
loves her daughter Janice Robertson is with
Banyard and all her children commander of
including Sheree Robertson. DAV Chapter 19
in Milwaukee,
She joined the Women’s Wisconsin, and
Army Corps in 1943. The Army veteran
Battalion recently received Tiffany Koehler.
Congressional recognition. Koehler wants to
She was born on March 25, celebrate
Robertson’s
1924, and grew up in services and
Osceola Arkansas. She is sharing her story
now 100 years old. including serving
in the 6888th
Postal Battalion.
MODERN DAY AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN
MILITARY PIONEERS

First Captain of the U.S. Military Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Major General Marcia Carol Martin
Academy’s Corps of Cadets Barber is the first African Anderson (née Mahan; born 1957)
Simone Askew is the first African American woman to serve as is a retired senior o icer of the
American woman to have that Brigade Commander at the United States Army Reserve. She
position. She was in the Military United States Naval Academy. was the first African American
Academy of West Point. She is She was a teacher at Grand woman to become a Major General
from Virginia. Concourse Academy. She was in the United States Army Reserve.
born in Lake Forest, Illinois.

After her service in the Army. Adams earned a master's degree in psychology from Ohio State
University. She then worked at the Veterans Administration in Cleveland, Ohio, but soon left
to teach at the Miller Academy of Fine Arts. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and was the
director of student personnel at Tennessee A&I College. She then moved to Georgia and became
the director of student personnel and assistant professor of education at Georgia State College.
She later served on the Board of Trustees at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.
Dayton Public Schools also named one of their schools the "Charity Adams Earley Girls
Academy" in her honor. Therefore, heroes exist among many background, and Lt. Col. Charity
Adams was a real hero who did amazing works in the action of helping humanity. World War II
witnesses some of the greatest women and men in human history who made time for the
enrichment of our modern civilization. Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Early’s amazing life
shall never be forgotten by us.

By Timothy