``Six Triple Eight'' Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked tirelessly to get the supermajority necessary to consider S. 321 to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women's Army Corps 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.

Let me just say that I am so pleased to be a sponsor of this bill, particularly as we end Black History Month, honoring these women, and as we begin Women's History Month. The intersection of those two things is certainly a very appropriate time to mention the Six Triple Eight.

You have heard about the heroic efforts of this only-Black-female battalion in history that served in World War II who are being honored here today. They are being honored because their heroic efforts enabled them, as a central battalion for the delivery of mail, to give people that little measure of a piece of home when they were away.

I just have to ask my colleagues: When there are 7,500 Robert Smiths who weren't able to get their mail during World War II, who did they call? The Six Triple Eight, Black women.

When they were coming under fire and there were 17-and-a-half million pieces of mail that were backlogged and couldn't be sent to these soldiers, who they did call? Oh, yeah, the Six Triple Eight.

When mothers were worried that their sons and wives were worried that their husbands had lost connection, who kept that connection going? The Six Triple Eight.

Their motto was ``no mail, low morale.'' They weren't just sorting mail. They were, in the words of Judi Glaeser printed in the Niagara Gazette on May 21, 2021:

Their work was more than sorting mail. It was ministering to the souls of soldiers, making sure they received that piece of home that reminded them that they were not forgotten.

Today, we are not forgetting them.

I say, in the name of my constituent, who is still alive and will be enjoying her 98th birthday on March 5, Anna Mae Robertson, I congratulate her on this gold medal.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I just want to enter into the Record the names of First Lieutenant Fannie Griffin McClendon of Arizona; Corporal Lena Derriecott Bell King of Las Vegas, Nevada; Private Catherine Romay Davis of Alabama; Private Hilda Griggs of New Jersey; and Private Crensencia Garcia of the Bronx, New York, who are still alive.

And to the son of their leader, Major Charity Adams, I thank the Major for leading the Six Triple Eight to this great victory today.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source