How They Sorted and Mailed Millions of Letters

Tyler Perry's 2024 Netflix Movie, The Six Triple Eight, sheds light on a historically forgotten battalion in World War II. The titular battalion was an all-black, all-female battalion from WWII, and they were tasked with the nearly impossible job of sorting 17 million letters to American soldiers and their loved ones back home. As covered in Tyler Perry's new war film, soldier morale was at an all-time low at that time in the war. What didn't help was that soldiers weren't receiving care packages or letters from home.

Additionally, their loved ones were not receiving updates directly from them in the mail, which left many family, friends, and partners wondering if the soldiers were okay. In some cases, like that of Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian), it was only after their loved one's death that they received news of what happened. There was a desperate need to sort the mail, all 17 million letters, and that's when Six Triple Eight came into play.; although this would be extremely difficult.

How the six triple eights are located where the letters should go

The Six Triple Eights got creative to find out who sent letters home

With so many lost cards to resolve, Six Triple Eight did everything to sort and send said letters. To achieve this, women needed to be creative in deciphering where these letters should go. Thanks to location cards, directories and soldier information – name, service numbers, serial numbers, etc. – Six Triple Eight has implemented a system to try and sort as much mail as possible. However, other tactics were sometimes necessary.

In these cases, members of the Six Triple Eights opened letters and care packages looking for contextual clues to narrow their search. For example, perfumes and fabrics can be clues as to where a soldier's loved ones were. If they could define the type of perfume or fabric, they could find out where it was sold, narrowing down the sender's origin options or where the letter would need to go. Although the brilliant women of the Six Triple Eight figured this out, it was still no easy task.

Why was it so difficult for the six triple eight to separate the letters

The six triple eights faced racism, unsafe working conditions and damaged letters

The women of the Six Triple Eight, who are based on real-life people, faced many difficulties when it came to sorting the mail. Initially, they only had six months to accomplish this task, something that Major Adams (Kerry Washington) initially considered a manageable amount of time in the film. That was until she saw the amount of mail and realized that her women were doomed to fail from the start. Major Adams and his wives faced sexism and racism from the militaryand this made an already difficult task almost impossible.

Many letters were also damaged over time, many of them being eaten by rats. Some of the information was also too general to determine who the sender or recipient was. Furthermore, the conditions of his work environment were not in favor of the Six Triple Eight. For example, many women were cold and had to wear gloves, slowing down the process. There was the imminent threat of air strikes and bombs.

This was a task that would be impossible for many others, but not for those shown in The Six Triple Eight. They connected soldiers with their loved ones once again, successfully sorting 17 million letters in three months – half the time originally allotted to them (via TIME). To do this, they overcame many obstacles, proving to those who worked against them that these women were the best of the best at the end of the day. The Six Triple Eight.

Source: TIME