The oldest living member of an all-Black female World War ll unit is being recognized for her service on Tuesday (July 26).
102-year-old Romay Davis will be honored as a member of the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the largest all-Black, all-female group to serve in the war.
Millions of letters and packages sent to U.S. military troops from home accumulated in European warehouses and were left unopened until the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion took on the massive task of clearing out the backlog.
The Black women who served in the segregated mail unit connected the front line to their loved ones back home as troops pushed into Hitler's Germany near the end of World War ll.
An event will be held at Montgomery City Hall on Tuesday in honor of Davis' service following President Joe Biden's decision to authorize a Congressional Gold Medal for the "Six Triple Eight."
Davis told AP News that she was honored to participate on behalf of the other deceased members.
“I think it’s an exciting event, and it’s something for families to remember,” Davis said. “It isn’t mine, just mine. No. It’s everybody’s.”
“We all had to be broken in, so to speak, to do what had to be done,” Davis continued. “The mail situation was in such horrid shape they didn’t think the girls could do it. But they proved a point.”
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kansas) helped birth the bill that allowed the unit to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
“Though the odds were set against them, the women of the Six Triple Eight processed millions of letters and packages during their deployment in Europe, helping connect WWII soldiers with their loved ones back home, like my father and mother,” Moran said in a statement earlier this year.
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