By Kaci Jones for WCCB
HICKORY, NC – History hangs on the walls of Cynthia Scott’s home in Hickory. It’s where her mother Elizabeth Barker Johnson spent the last few years of her life.
Johnson was part of the 6888th Central Postal Directory battalion. During World War II, the US Army sent 900 women overseas to systematically sort 18 million packages and letters for delivery.
“These women were smart. They came up with the clever ways to get the mail to these men,” Scott said.
The mission was about more than mail. The Six Triple Eight helped boost morale for soldiers who spent years fighting without family contact. The military had sent several battalions to deliver the mail, but they were always unsuccessful until the Six Triple Eight tried.
“They were set up for failure and they knew that,” Scott said. “But they knew that working together because they came from all different backgrounds, some of them had been to college, some of them had not, but they knew that they could get together and do a job.”
The women worked around the clock on different duties. Johnson hauled supplies in a ¾-ton truck.
“They gave her a task to do, and that was one thing about my mother, if you gave her a task to do, if she didn’t know how to do it, she was going to figure out how to do it,” Scott said.
The team of all women of color were given six months to clear the mail backlog, but they finished in three months. Their performance was considered exceptional by military leadership and they were sent to clear another backlog in France before their trip back to the states. The story plays out in Tyler Perry’s drama The Six Triple Eight on Netflix.
The City of Hickory hosted a screening for the movie with Scott standing by for questions and answers after the movie.
“This is going to set an example for other women. They can see they’re important people and they can do things too because God’s got you,” Sarah Kaylor, Hickory Resident said.
After the military, Johnson’s mission shifted to the classroom. She was the first woman to use the GI bill to pay for school at Winston Salem State earning her degree in education in 1949. She started teaching at a district in Virginia before graduation and her superintendent refused to grant her the time off for her graduation ceremony. Seventy years later, Johnson walked across the stage in a special ceremony at WSSU.
“I think she knew that if she got her education, that many doors would open up for her and many doors did open up,” Scott said.
Johnson lived to be 100 years old. She celebrated her last birthday with family, friends, and Hickory residents who honored her with a drive by birthday party in 2020 pandemic style. Johnson earned the Congressional Medal of Freedom, North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine and dozens of other awards for her heroic service. The spirit of education lives on through Scott sharing Johnson’s story and scholarships for school.
“Just knowing, my mother, this scholarship, this foundation has helped yet another stu dent to go on to school, to be able to afford to buy books, to do whatever it is that they need to do to finish school would mean a lot to her,” Scott said.