Gift from the grave: Commander’s son reflects on mother leading the only all-woman unit overseas during WWII

As the highest-ranking Black woman officer during WWII, Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley served her country proudly between 1942 and 1946.
She led the Six-Triple-Eight Central Postal Directory Battalion — the only all-woman, predominantly Black unit to serve overseas during WWII.
The 855-member battalion defied the odds and succeeded where others had failed, all while facing wartime conditions and Jim Crow racism that followed them overseas.
The women cleared more than a year's worth of mail that had been piling up in rat-infested airplane hangars, and got more than 17 million letters (and care packages) to war-weary soldiers scattered across Europe who longed for words of encouragement from home.
They had six months to complete the task. They did it in three, sorting letters at a rate of one every four-tenths of a second.

Some historians credit the womens' work with giving U.S. forces the morale boost they needed to ultimately defeat Nazi Germany.
Hence the unit's motto: “No Mail. Low Morale.”
Now, 80 years later, the Six-Triple-Eight has formally received the Congressional Gold Medal. The son of the unit's commander says he's grateful for the gift his mother has given him from beyond the grave.
RELATED: The only female unit to serve overseas in WWII gets a congressional medal 80 years on
"This whole experience, I've had the opportunity to meet so many people, to learn so much, to meet elected officials, artistic people, family members of my own family, family, various other families," said Stanley Earley III. "It's just wonderful."
Earley accepted the highest civilian award given by Congress, on behalf of the Six Triple Eight and hundreds of the unit's descendants on April 29 at the US Capitol.

Efforts to get the Six Triple Eight the Congressional Gold Medal actually began in 2018, under the leadership of Retired Army Colonel Edna Cummings.
The US Senate and House approved the legislation that was eventually signed into law in 2022 by President Joe Biden.
The Six-Triple-Eight is now only the second women's military unit in U.S. history to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
"The fact that they were able to achieve it at a higher level than was thought to be possible was something that I think really deserves to be recognized and it's taken 80 years, so I'm really glad that it's happening," Earley said, "and they did it at a time when there was not a lot of recognition for African American women."
Earley was born about a decade after his mother's service, and grew up knowing about her role leading the Six Triple Eight.
"I realized there's my mother (and) there's a public image, but my mother was very much a thorough person,” he said. “In fact, I would say her superpower was that she was always prepared. She was a person who would read everything and if you went into a meeting with her, she knew everything that was in every pre-prepared material."
Lt. Col. Adams Earley, like many of the women (85%) in the 6888, were either college graduates or teachers.
Earley said his mother graduated valedictorian of her high school (by either 15 or 16 years old). She later earned degrees in math, physics, and Latin in 1938 from Wilberforce University and received a master's in psychology from The Ohio State University.
The commander was not only a highly-educated woman, she also learned how to stand up to racist efforts to segregate the Six Triple Eight from fellow white female soldiers.
"The White GI's told tales about us. The Red Cross wanted to segregate us ... but I refused to accept any segregated facilities they wanted to create for me, and after that they didn't try," said Adams Earley in a 1990 interview with the US Army Women’s Museum.

Earley said his mother was strategic though.
"She was a person who really felt like if you're going to try to achieve something, one of the things you don't want to do is to humiliate the other person because you're gonna wind up with an enemy."
Adams Earley was known for being very considerate of others despite being the highest ranking Black woman officer during WWII.
"She talked about sometimes when she was commanding troops, she would think, ‘OK, I don't need to not walk across the quad because that will disrupt everything. I need to understand everybody else's space because I need them to, when we need it to give all they can.’"
Earley said one of his fondest memories of his mother was when she introduced then-President Clinton during an event honoring Black veterans.
"My mother introduced President Clinton, and she gave a really good speech,” Earley said. “My mother was a really good speaker, and she gave one of her best, and the President said, ‘I don't know whether I should dismiss or just demote the person who decided that I should speak after the lieutenant colonel,’ and she was so pleased."
Adams Earley died in 2002 at the age of 83.
She passed away long before the 6888 received the Congressional Gold Medal. The unit was also remembered in the Netflix movie: “The Six Triple Eight.”
RELATED: WWII's only Women's Army Corps unit of color featured in 'The Six Triple Eight'
"If you saw the movie, there's a whole scene on the airplane and one of the things that my mother said to me, fairly young, was talking about being on that flight and saying, ‘I was not going to be the first person to open my orders,’" Earley said. "When that was in the movie, that was really personally kind of satisfying."
Earley says few things are more satisfying, though, than knowing his mother's role in U.S. history.
"Please help us ensure the story of the Six Triple Eight and the honors they receive are protected and remembered for future generations," he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Angela King is a descendant of PFC Laura Amelia Bias, one of the members of the Six Triple Eight.