Thread by @starsandstripes

Did you know❓

Among the roughly 9,400 graves at Normandy American Cemetery are those of four women. These are their stories:
stripes.com/special-report…

During WWII, there was the Women’s Army Corps, a special component created during the war to allow women to serve in noncombat roles. The Corps was segregated and included the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, to which these four women were assigned.

Mary Bankston, Mary Barlow, Dolores Browne and Elizabeth Richardson, all members of the Six Triple Eight, deployed to the United Kingdom with a mission to clear a backlog of undelivered letters and packages that had been piling up in warehouses since D-Day, the previous June.

The battalion’s soldiers worked long shifts in bleak warehouses, where rats had eaten through some of the estimated 17 million items of mail. The buildings were kept dark so that the enemy couldn’t detect them.

Cummings believed the women were set up to fail like other units that had attempted to clear the backlog before them.

But under the leadership of Maj. Charity Adams, the Six Triple Eight devised a system to tackle the problem. Not only did they complete their mission, but they also did so three months ahead of schedule, only for them to get transferred to clean up a postal jam in Rouen, France.

It was in Rouen two months later when “the Three B’s,” as they were known, were involved in a fatal jeep accident.

The two privates were killed the day of the accident. Browne lived for another five days before succumbing to her injuries. All were in their early 20s.

Their remains were relocated to Normandy American Cemetery in 1948 with their families’ consent.

While they faced segregation during their military service, they are honored at the cemetery in the same manner as all other service members regardless of rank, gender, race, religion or country of origin.
stripes.com/special-report…

Unlike the other three women, Elizabeth Richardson wasn’t in the military. As a member of the American Red Cross clubmobile unit, she helped serve coffee and donuts to American service members in England and France.

“For many soldiers, these women were the embodiment of home, and that, of course, is what these guys were fighting for,” a historian said.

On July 25, 1945, Richardson was heading to Paris on a small plane when it crashed near Rouen, killing her and the pilot.

“It’s important to remember that sacrifice came from all corners of America,” said Charles Djou, secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which oversees Normandy American Cemetery. “It wasn’t just soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.”

Read more about the brave women here:
stripes.com/special-report…