Beaumont family honors Mabel Zenon-Williams, a nurse who served in the all-Black women's Six Triple Eight

More than 80 years after she went to war, Beaumont, Texas, is giving Mabel Zenon-Williams the recognition her family says she earned long ago. She served in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. No other unit made up entirely of Black women was shipped overseas during World War II.

A product of the city's North End, she finished at Hebert High in 1939 and went on to nursing before the Army handpicked her for the battalion. She passed away in 2010. On Saturday morning her relatives gathered for a private tribute in her honor at Sacred Heart Cemetery.

A nephew's discovery

Her nephews Edward and James Clark always knew their aunt had served. They did not grasp what her unit had pulled off until they watched the recent film about it, "The Six Triple Eight."

Edward Clark remembers her as tough and exacting, a woman who insisted on getting things right and wanted to show that women could do good work in the military. He said he hopes her story nudges other young women toward service. It is a shame the honor took so long, he said, but now her place in the history books is something no one can take away.

Keeping the mail moving

Local historian Jessie Davis, founder of the group Historic Sacred Spaces, is helping the family tell her story. Davis said the women of the 6888th never got the thanks they deserved when they came home. They made real sacrifices, she said, so the families of soldiers could get letters that brought comfort and peace.

Under Maj. Charity Adams the battalion's 855 women reached Britain in February 1945. In Birmingham they found warehouses holding an estimated 17 million letters and packages that had never reached the troops. Running three shifts around the clock every day of the week, they built a card index that grew to about 7 million names to sort it all out. Their motto was "No mail, low morale."

The Army gave the unit a Meritorious Unit Commendation in 2019. In 2022 a law was signed awarding its members the Congressional Gold Medal. Families like the Clarks are now making sure the names behind that honor are known in their own hometowns.