EMILY N COX

PFC. Emily Cox served as a member of an all black female army team called 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights leader Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune successfully advocated for the admittance of African-American women as enlisted personnel and officers in the WAC, although as in the rest of the Army, segregation prevailed. After several units of white women were sent to serve in the European theater, African-American organizations pressed the War Department to extend the opportunity to serve overseas to African-American WACs. In November 1944, the War Department acquiesced.2 Despite slow recruitment of volunteers, a battalion of 817 (later 824) enlisted personnel and 31 officers, all African-American women drawn from the WAC, the Army Service Forces, and the Army Air Forces, was created and eventually designated as the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight.” The 6888th included a Headquarters Company for administrative and service support and Companies A, B, C, and D, each commanded by a captain or first lieutenant.