Abstract

To Serve My Country is a qualitative study about women who served in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (CPDB). The unique factors of being African American, female, and in the United States Army during World War II are discussed throughout the book. The 6888th CPDB was the only unit of African American WACs (women serving in the Army Corps) that was stationed overseas during the war. The battalion was a result of civil rights activists pressuring the War Department to extend the same opportunity to African American WACs to serve overseas that white WACs had. Consisting of more than 800 WACs, the battalion was segregated by race and gender. Members of the 6888th came from all walks of life; some were professionals and others were unskilled. The unit reflected the diversity of African American women in the broader society. The book is about their lives before, during, and after military service. The study illustrates how members of the 6888th actively shaped their lives in an institution that mirrored race and gender biases found in American society during that historical period.