issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 
banning racial discrimination in civilian defense in-
dustries, the Armed Forces remained segregated. 
Enlisted women served in segregated units, partici-
pated in segregated training, lived in separate quar-
ters, ate at separate tables in mess halls, and used 
segregated recreational facilities. Officers received 
their officer candidate training in integrated units 
but lived under segregated conditions. Specialist and 
technical training schools were integrated in 1943. 
During World War II, a total of 6,520 African- 
American women served in the WAAC and the 
WAC. 
(3) After several units of White women were 
sent to serve in the European Theater of Operations 
(referred to in this section as the ‘‘ETO’’) during 
World War II, African-American organizations advo-
cated for the War Department to extend the oppor-
tunity to serve overseas to African-American WAC 
units. 
(4) In November 1944, the War Department 
approved sending African-American women to serve 
in Europe. A battalion of all African-American 
women drawn from the WAC, the Army Service 
Forces, and the Army Air Forces was created and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:15 Mar 08, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1012.IH
H1012
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
designated as the 6888th Central Postal Directory 
Battalion (referred to in this section as the 
‘‘6888th’’), which was nicknamed the ‘‘Six Triple 
Eight’’. 
(5) Army officials reported a shortage of quali-
fied postal officers within the ETO, which resulted 
in a backlog of undelivered mail. As Allied forces 
drove across Europe, the ever-changing locations of 
servicemembers hampered the delivery of mail to 
those servicemembers. Because 7,000,000 civilians 
and military personnel from the United States 
served in the ETO, many of those individuals had 
identical names. For example, 7,500 such individuals 
were named Robert Smith. One general predicted 
that the backlog in Birmingham, England, would 
take 6 months to process and the lack of reliable 
mail service was hurting morale. 
(6) In February 1945, the 6888th arrived in 
Birmingham. Upon their arrival, the 6888th found 
warehouses filled with millions of pieces of mail in-
tended for members of the Armed Forces, United 
States Government personnel, and Red Cross work-
ers serving in the ETO. 
(7) The 6888th created effective processes and 
filing systems to track individual servicemembers, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:15 Mar 08, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1012.IH
H1012
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
organize ‘‘undeliverable’’ mail, determine the in-
tended recipient for insufficiently addressed mail, 
and handle mail addressed to servicemembers who 
had died. Adhering to their motto of ‘‘No mail, low 
morale’’, the women processed an average of 65,000 
pieces of mail per shift and cleared the 6-month 
backlog of mail within 3 months. 
(8) The 6888th traveled to Rouen, France in 
May 1945 and worked through a separate backlog of 
undelivered mail dating back as far as 3 years. 
(9) At the completion of their mission, the unit 
returned to the United States. The 6888th was dis-
continued on March 9, 1946, at Camp Kilmer, New 
Jersey. 
(10) The accomplishments of the 6888th in Eu-
rope encouraged the General Board, United States 
Forces, European Theater of Operations to adopt 
the following premise in their study of the WAC 
issued in December 1945: ‘‘[T]he national security 
program is the joint responsibility of all Americans 
irrespective of color or sex’’ and ‘‘the continued use 
of colored, along with white, female military per-
sonnel is required in such strength as is proportion-
ately appropriate to the relative population distribu-
tion between colored and white races’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:15 Mar 08, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1012.IH
H1012
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(11) With the exception of smaller units of Af-
rican-American nurses who served in Africa, Aus-
tralia, and England, the 6888th was the only Afri-
can-American Women’s Army Corps unit to serve 
overseas during World War II. 
(12) The members of the ‘‘Six Triple Eight’’ re-
ceived the European African Middle Eastern Cam-
paign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service 
Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal for 
their service. 
(13) In 2019, the Army awarded the 6888th 
the Meritorious Unit Commendation. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) AWARD
AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 
award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of 
appropriate design in honor of the women of the 6888th 
Central Postal Directory Battalion (commonly known as 
the ‘‘Six Triple Eight’’) in recognition of— 
(1) the pioneering military service of those 
women; 
(2) the devotion to duty of those women; and 
(3) the contributions made by those women to 
increase the morale of all United States personnel 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:15 Mar 08, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1012.IH
H1012
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
stationed in the European Theater of Operations 
during World War II. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
award described in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 
strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 
inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the gold 
medal under subsection (a), the medal shall be given 
to the Smithsonian Institution, where the medal 
shall be available for display, as appropriate, and 
made available for research. 
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 
available elsewhere, particularly at— 
(A) appropriate locations associated with 
the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion; 
(B) the Women in Military Service for 
America Memorial; 
(C) the United States Army Women’s Mu-
seum; 
(D) the National World War II Museum 
and Memorial; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:15 Mar 08, 2021
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1012.IH
H1012
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS