Tyler Perry tells the true story of the 6888th Battalion, the only colored unit of the Women's Army Corps to serve overseas during World War II.
The film is a story about perseverance, but it's also 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 colored unit of the Women's Army Corps to be stationed overseas during World War II, known as Six Triple Eight.
Director: Tyler Perry
Writers: Kevin Hymel, Tyler Perry
Stars: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson
Before Perry's film, I admit that I had never heard of Six Triple Eight. That's probably true for a lot of people. After all, it is a story about black women and their contributions to the Army. As we all know, the contributions of black people have been severely overlooked in American history, and that certainly includes the military. But this is an important story that we should all know about, and I'm so happy 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 in love with each other. Abram, who is in the military, tragically dies. Lena then decides that she wants to join the military to “fight Hitler.” She joins the U.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’re getting into when they join up, and they all assume that because they’re black women, they probably won’t even make it to the point where they can serve their country. That doesn’t mean they can get away with it, which becomes clear when they get out of the jeep and head into the outback to meet up with 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 female makes them easy targets for all of her detractors. So, she puts the women through rigorous training because she wants them to be prepared for anything. When they are finally called to serve, it is not for the reason she expected. She and her unit, comprised of 855 women, which became known as the 6888th Central Postal Directorate Battalion, were tasked with sorting a three-year backlog of mail containing 17 million pieces that had not been delivered to American soldiers far from home. The deadline they were given to do this was six months.
As you can imagine, doing this was no easy task. Sorting 17 million pieces of mail that included care packages eaten by rats 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 reach their goal, time was not the only thing that was not on their side. Racism and sexism were one of their biggest battles. From the moment they were assigned to travel to Europe, they faced multiple difficult conditions, from the boat ride to the conditions at King Edward School where they set up their post. Nothing was ready for them, so they had to clean up the place and create an area to sort the mail. As Major Adams told them, many people expected them to fail, and they were given the mission because they knew it was virtually impossible. The first two months they are in Europe do not go well because all the mail they send is returned and deemed undeliverable. Since they were never given a plan on how they should handle the mail, the women had to work together to come up with their process.
While watching The Triple Six Eight, I was amazed by the lengths the women went to in order to sort the mail. 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 purchased perfume and used the scents to figure out the states where the bottles were purchased so 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 kind of person he was, I didn't expect him to be nice anyway because he wanted the women to fail. I also wasn't surprised that he was so unfazed because he never showed a shred of concern about the fact that the soldiers and their families didn't get their mail. To him, it was a waste of time.
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