The Six Triple Eight

2024   Netflix

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  9min

Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by:  Tyler Perry

Starring:  Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Gregg Sulkin, Susan Sarandon, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston and Oprah Winfrey.

“They did not send us because they thought we could do it, we are here because they are sure we can not. But We…..Will Not…..Fail!”

On May 15, 1942, after being drug into WWII by Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the creation of The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. It allowed women to serve in non-combat roles freeing up the men needed by the war effort on the front lines. The 6888th Battalion (Nicknamed The Six Triple Eight) was an all Black Female WAAC Battalion consisting of 31 Officers and 824 enlisted personnel. They watched as the White WAAC Battalions were given orders and missions overseas in Europe to support the war effort but, given the racial bias and discrimination of the day, they were left to continue training in Georgia.

The True Story of The Six Triple Eight is told through the eyes of Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian). As a young Black woman attending High School in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, she falls in love with a young Jewish boy named Abram David (Gregg Sulkin). Abram makes Lena promise to wait for him to return as he is drafted to go to Europe and fight in the war. Months pass and Lena gets a letter informing her that Abram had died in service. She vows to join the war effort the only way she can, by joining The WAAC, and fight Hitler. She joins and is sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia where the highest ranking Black Female Officer during WWII is in charge of the new recruits.

Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington) was Commanding Officer of The Six Triple Eight and oversaw the mission that took the Battalion to war in Europe. Mail delivery in and out of the war in Europe had come to a standstill. Families at home in the US had no word from their loved ones serving on the battlefield, and soldiers morale on the frontlines were growing low, being fully cut off from their lives at home. Major Adams and her Battalion were given orders to fly to Birmingham, England and sort the mess out, and get the mail flowing again. Nobody thought they could accomplish the task and they were given six months to complete the assignment. They were given an abandoned school building with no heat, and airplane hangars full of duffel bags stuffed with mail.

Major Adams and her Battalion rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Working three eight hour shifts twenty four hours a day, they sorted through an estimated 17 million pieces of mail. A great number of the letters and packages were damaged or had very little info as to who it actually went to, and coupled with the fact that the soldiers they were addressed to were constantly moving on the battlefield, it was a seemingly impossible task. The women of The Six Triple Eight gave it everything they had, playing detective, and pieced together where all the mail was supposed to go and got it there. And they accomplished their mission in 90 days, half the time they were allotted, and in spite of the working conditions, and the racial and sexist discriminations of the time.

I never did understand the racial bias and hatred towards another human beings skin color or ethnicity. I was raised in a Military household and I grew up around the world, exposed to many different cultures and ethnicities in and outside the confines of  Military life. When I lived in the south for the first time it was indeed a cultural shock, at the time I was a long haired Hippie Child that loved playing guitar and Blues music. I might as well have been black, racism was rampant, and if you loved “Nigger Music” or played it you got the wrath as well. I remember playing in a country band back in the early 1980’s and somebody came up to me and said, “I’ll bet you love to play that Nigger Blues, don’t you….”  Seriously?

Job well done to the women of The Six Triple Eight and Major Charity Adams, and to Tyler Perry for bringing this story to the big screen. He was so inspired when Producer Nicole Avant contacted him about the story, he sought out any remaining members of The 6888th. The next day he flew out to Las Vegas where he spent time with Lena Derriecott King. There is a video Tyler Perry posted on his Instagram account with Lena.  I think Mr. Perry and the cast did a tremendous job bringing their story to the big screen. Kerry Washington had my attention from the time she walked in the barracks for the first time. Absolutely riveting performance. Ebony Obsidian as Lena as well. All the women get my utmost respect, I salute The Six Triple Eight and The Cast of the movie. Bravo. Standing Ovation………………

There is a tremendous lesson to be learned from these brave women…….no matter what obstacle, how high, how formidable….you never, ever give up…and you hold your head high as you do what they say can’t be done.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!