The Six Triple Eight 2024

A West Virginian mother waits daily for news from her two sons serving overseas. Meanwhile, childhood friends Lena and Abram face the difficulty of their budding romance (Lena is black and Abram is Jewish) in 1940s Philadelphia, as he prepares to deploy. Abram dies shortly after commissioning as an officer pilot, so the heart-broken Lena vows to enlist upon graduation.

On the train to basic training in Georgia, Lena meets other enlistees who will become her friends. They are trained by Captain Charity Adams and Lieutenant Noel Campbell. Despite being well-trained, the battalion is not given orders.

One day, the West Virginia mother goes to the White House and tells Eleanor Roosevelt that, across the country, no one is receiving mail from the war. President Roosevelt meets with two high-ranking officers, Mrs. Roosevelt, and Mary MacLeod Bethune to discuss it.

The general explains that mail is not being delivered because they have had to prioritize delivery of supplies. As a consequence, millions of letters and packages have piled up in hangars in Britain. Clearing the backlog has become a logistical nightmare that several units haven’t been able to resolve, including a white women’s unit. Bethune maintains, however, that the Black Women’s Army Corps can do it, so Captain Adams’ unit is finally given orders.

The battalion has to cross a stormy Atlantic in the ocean liner Île de France without naval escort. When they arrive in Glasgow, they face the racist commanding officer General Halt, who forces them to march through the city immediately upon landing to a disused, rat-infested, unheated boarding school, which is to become their base.

The newly promoted Major Adams and her second-in-command Captain Campbell are given six months to turn the school into a post office and barracks and clear a two-year backlog of undelivered mail. The deadline is intended to ensure their failure.

Once the battalion has toiled to put together liveable quarters, a pristine mess hall and a well-organized mail sorting hall, the work can begin. One day Lena loses her composure upon seeing nonchalant handling of dog tags found in damaged letters. She breaks down to her friends, revealing her connection to Abram and how she never received any letters from him, so she knows first-hand how important their job is. Her friends promise to look out for any letter addressed to her and Major Adams tells Lena that her story has also made her realize the importance of their work.

Along with a notification that their first two months of sorted mail was undeliverable, the battalion is asked to host African-American soldiers to boost morale. Lena sees Hugh there, who she had met previously. They start to dance, but she soon leaves upon hearing a song she associates with Abram. So they decide to be friends.

When it is discovered that an occasional letter is opened, the battalion members point out various difficulties and challenges they face. These include multiple cases of identical names, multiple locator cards for soldiers as their units move, rats are damaging addresses and their contents and mold, among other things.

After FDR’s death, a white chaplain arrives, delivering a sermon which undermines Major Adams’ qualifications and morals. Then, finding his extremely negative report on her, she has his things packed and sends him off.

The same day that a letter from Abram to Lena is found, two women of their unit die from a bomb en route to the school. After their burial, Lena is able to visit his grave, where she reads his letter. In it, he tells her to live a long life, so she finally gets closure.

General Halt visits the 6888, criticizing them harshly. As they work around the clock, the night shift is sleeping when he arrives. Halt is not allowed in the showers lest someone is showering. After he inspects the mail sorting area, he declares Major Adams incompetent and he will replace her with a white male.

Adams responds “over my dead body”, on which she elaborates eloquently in the General’s face, makes clear that she will not step down. The soldiers who heard the exchange remain standing at attention until she comes down to get them to start work again, whereupon they give the Major rousing applause.

As General Halt is trying to push Major Adams’ court martial through, he hears cheers from his unit as their mail finally arrives. The 6888 successfully straightened the backlog of two years or 17 million pieces of mail in just 90 days, despite the challenges. They were later sent to Rouen, France, to clear another backlog. Lena later marries Hugh, living a long life.

The women of the 6888 were not especially appreciated when returning to US soil at the time. Much later, Michelle Obama oversees a ceremony honoring the 6888. Also, US Army Base Fort Lee was renamed partially in Adams’ honor.