Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of WWII by Mary Cronk Farrell

Author:Mary Cronk Farrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams Books
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

A crowd of African American Women’s Army Corps members waving at the camera. Staten Island Terminal, New York Port of Embarkation, February 1945.

CHAPTER 10

The 6888th Goes to Europe

February 1945

The first of two contingents of the 6888th boarded the Ile de France, a former luxury liner. They sailed from New York City, Myrtle Rhoden’s hometown—five hundred women and thousands of male U.S. military personnel. The women were given staterooms on the top deck. “It was loaded to the brim,” Myrtle said, “with troops and equipment and bombs and ammunition and whatever else was needed for war.”

Corporal Ruth E. Jefferson had grown up in a small town. Joining the WAC had opened a entirely new world for her, but crossing the Atlantic was not a high point. “All I remember is that I was sick the whole time,” she said.

Private First Class Gladys O. Thomas, a fun-loving, athletic young woman, was one of the lucky ones who didn’t get seasick. When storms in the North Atlantic rocked the ship with heavy waves, she enjoyed it. One night the erratic motion was so strong it woke Gladys. Someone told her a German submarine was chasing the ship and firing torpedoes. She didn’t believe it. She turned over and went back to sleep.

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