Mary H Bankston was born in Manhattan, New York in 1921, the only child of (No Father listed) and Etta P. Bankston (27 Apr 1902 - Dec 1979). Mary was raised and educated in and around the New York area graduating from High School after four years. After graduation Mary found employment as an office clerk.

On 29 Mar 1944 Mary enlisted in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps, in New York, New York with the rank of Private, Service Number: A-207949 and was sent for basic training. After six weeks of training Pvt. Bankston received a promotion to Private First Class and was attached to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, also known as the “Six Triple Eight.”.

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the "Six Triple Eight", was an all-black battalion of the Women's Army Corps (WAC). The Six Triple Eight consisted of 855 black women, both enlisted and officers, and was led by Major Charity Adams. It was the only all-black, all-female battalion sent overseas during World War II. The group motto was "No mail, low morale".

The battalion was organized into five companies, Headquarters, Able Company, Baker Company, Charlie Company, and Dog Company. Most members of the Six Triple Eight worked as postal clerks, but others were cooks, mechanics and held other support positions, so that the Six Triple Eight was a self-sufficient unit.

The Six Triple Eight left the United States on February 3, 1945, sailing on the Île de France and was scheduled to arrive in Glasgow, Scotland on February 12. The Île de France encountered several German U-boats on the trip, forcing the ship to take evasive maneuvers. The ship reached Glasgow, on February 14 safely, though a German V-1 flying bomb exploded near the dock.The battalion was transported by train to Birmingham. On 15 February the unit was inspected and marched in review before Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, Commanding General, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations (ETO), and Maj Gen. Robert McGowan Littlejohn, Chief Quartermaster, ETO, whose responsibilities included the mail.

Their first assignment was Birmingham, England, the site of the worst mail backlog. The unit had no previous training in postal operations. However, under the leadership of 26-year-old Major Charity Adams, the Six Triple Eight worked three shifts around the clock, and routed upwards of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift as bombs exploded in the distance. In three months, the Six Triple Eight processed for delivery approximately 17 million pieces of mail, completing in three months what was expected to take six months Their success in England earned them the reputation of being one of the “best and most efficient unit in the entire Women’s Army Corps.”

The Six Triple Eight was a segregated unit, sleeping and eating in different locations from the white, male soldiers. They were housed in a former school building, with officers quartered in houses nearby. Some of the women felt that the European locals treated them better than people did in the United States. However, there was also evidence of sexist and racist treatment by male soldiers. Cold weather when they arrived meant the women had to wear coats and extra clothes when working in the unheated post office buildings.

A chaplain working at Birmingham caused problems for Major Adams, ordering her soldiers not to report to work, but to report to his office, causing them to be AWOL. Adams had to "'counsel' him to let the women alone, "reminding him that she was in charge of the women's assignments".

After reducing the backlog in Birmingham England, their next stop was Rouen, France. The mail backlog was not as intense and the women had time to experience the city, travel, and socialize while they were not working.

On 8 July 1945, three of the soldiers attended an authorized social gathering, probably several miles away from their military station. The senior ranking soldier was Sergeant Delores Browne from Connecticut. The two other soldiers, Pfc. Mary J. Barlow also from Connecticut, and Pfc. Mary H. Bankston from New York, were also members of the Six Triple Eight’s entertainment troupe, on their way back to their quarters from that event, these three soldiers, in their early twenties, died in a jeep accident. Bankston and Barlow died immediately at the accident scene, and Browne died from her injuries on July 13, 1945.

Death was not the only tragedy for these young women. More tragic than their death, was the unwillingness of the U.S. Army to afford these soldiers a proper burial. Due to wartime conditions, or for some other unknown reason, the Army chose not to return the bodies back to the U.S. or pay for their funerals. In the Six Triple Eight documentary the Six Triple Eight U.S. Army Major (Retired) Fannie McClendon, age 100, of Tempe, Arizona mentioned that she did not know that remains were buried in shelter halves or military tents.

Fortunately, Major Adams insisted on a respectful funeral and collected money to pay for coffins made by German prisoners. Adams did not want the women buried in pine boxes. As a unit filled with skilled women from many walks of life, some of them had experience handling human remains. Captain Abbie Campbell recalled their burials, “We had women who had worked in funeral parlors before…They fixed up the ladies beautifully.”

The final resting place for these women was among the now 9,300 graves in the historic Normandy American Cemetery in Coleville-sur-Mer, France. Only four female soldiers are buried in Normandy, three are these soldiers from the Six Triple Eight. Pfc. Mary H. Bankston, Section D, Row: 20, Grave: 46, Pfc. Mary Jewel Barlow, Plot D Row 20 Grave 46, and Sgt. Dolores M. Browne, Plot F Row 13 Grave 19.

Not only does their legacy is alive in one of the world’s most visited cemeteries, but their legacy will remain intact with the award of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal. The Gold Medal bill passed the Senate in April 2021, passing the House in February of 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden on 14 February 2022, Valentine’s Day.

As of 22 June 2022 Holly Garman and Joe Trentacosta are creating a new musical to honor the Six Triple Eight. These women went unrecognized for decades. Joe and Holly, along with Executive Producer, Blair Underwood and the createve team of Morgan J. Smart, Ronve O''Daniel, and Jevares C. Myrick want to insure that slight is rectified.

Pfc. Mary H. Bankston was awarded the following:

World War II Victory Medal

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

U.S, Congressional Gold Medal

All Gave Some, Some Gave All

References:

Ancertry.com

Smithsonian.com

Newspapers.com

U.S. Censes records

https://wikipedia.org/

https://www.congress.gov

https://history.army.mil

Colonel Edna W. Cummings, U.S. Army (Retired)

HonorStates.org

For a great article on the Women Soldiers of the Six Triple Eight Central Postal Directory Battalion, please see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022503571.html

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. We welcome volunteers to help write these stories.

Stories Behind The Stars, Contributing Historian: Steve Booth,

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Email: Daisensei@storiesbehindthestars.org

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/638778912/mary-h-bankston