A Tribute to Unsung Heroes: The Six Triple Eight Revealed

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Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Kickback.

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I am your host, The Dude, and as we do every week, we have a great,

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great topic coming up and a great, great guest today, and we're going to be

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discussing some history about the movie, The Six Triple Eight.

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If you've never heard of The Six Triple Eight, then you are behind the times.

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It is about a platoon of African-American women who got the male taken care

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of over in Europe years ago, and they did a wonderful job.

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And tonight we have a story from one of those particular beautiful ladies daughters.

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She's going to come on and she's going to tell us the story about her mom,

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who was a six triple eight and also was a golf phenom.

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And this wonderful lady is by the name of Denise McBride.

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She is a wonderful lady and she has done a lot in the community and she also

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has ran a couple of programs when it comes to housing.

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Here in my lovely city of Nashville, Tennessee, if you've never been here, it is a great place to be.

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We have a lot of things going on, and we are alive, and we are here.

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So for this great month of February, we wanted to end February on a beautiful note.

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And with that being said, we're about to start this interview with this beautiful woman.

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If you've never been here before, this is The Kickback. I am your host, The Dude,

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and we love to have open and honest and transparent and vulnerable conversations

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about life, love, and whatever it may be that you're going through in life.

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But we wanted to change the narrative a little bit tonight, and we wanted to

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do an interview with a wonderful, beautiful lady who's talking about another

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wonderful, beautiful lady, her mom. So, yeah.

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If you're in the listening audience, just since not love and we will send love

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back your way. We always appreciate a follow.

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We always appreciate a like. We always appreciate people coming on our platform

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and being wonderful human beings, because like I always say,

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we are ordinary people doing extraordinary things that God has ordained us to do.

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So, you know, it is always a pleasure and it's always wonderful to be here and

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have this platform for people to come listen and tell their stories.

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The kitchen is a place for brothers I don't think please,

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They take back A place for brothers.

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Music.

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They take back A place for brothers,

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They take back A place for brothers.

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A place for problems A place for problems hello and good afternoon my brother

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welcome welcome welcome,

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hey what's going on there the dude man is always having a wonderful wonderful

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day it looks like they've changed a little bit your picture has gone away my brother,

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yeah i see that yeah i don't understand what happened right i don't understand

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what's going on with that either being that usually you have a picture there

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and but they've changed the they've changed the format. So how's your day been?

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It's been a full day. I've been fully engaged. It's been busy.

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Played a little pickleball and running around with these kids, getting some to work.

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And then I had to teach a pickleball class this evening. So I've just been running and gunning.

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So now you're the teacher. Yeah, well, it's a bunch of little kids that we're

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trying to expose the children over at Martha O'Brien's to pickleball.

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They know all about basketball. They know about football, but they don't know about pickleball.

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So trying to expand their horizons. Do they know about tennis?

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They probably do. Okay. But they're big into basketball.

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Of course, because that's what they see a lot of on the TV screen is basketball.

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And there are a lot of people that look up to basketball players.

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So, you know, and also. I'm having some issues.

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Yeah, yeah, football, too. I'm having some issues with pie beans.

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I don't know what's going on, but I'm –.

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You may have a young lady to speak at tonight. She's a little antsy,

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so I'm hoping that she can come in. Did you send it to her phone, Mami?

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Ms. Denise? Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me?

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Barely. This is not a format I am accustomed to at all.

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All right. It is new to certain people, but it's been out for a long time.

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It is, if you turn your device up, you may be able to hear us just a tad bit better. Okay.

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Hello, Ms. Denise. How are you doing this evening? Okay.

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Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. We can hear you loud and clear.

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All righty. So welcome to the Kickback, Ms. Denise.

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I am the dude. I am the proprietor of the Kickback and the host.

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And I'd like to welcome you to the Kickback.

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We here at the kickback we like to

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inform the community of what's going

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on and people in the community and highlight just people ordinary people that

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have done extraordinary things in their lives and from what i understand from

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your bio that you said you've done some extraordinary things in your life along

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with your mom who we want to highlight along with story.

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Now, we want to talk about you, and we also want to talk about her.

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Both of you all seem to be some wonderful women, and you have some great accolades

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in your life. First of all, we want to go with you.

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If you just introduce yourself and tell the world who you are and where you're from.

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Okay. Well, good evening, everyone. My name is Denise McBride,

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Denise Meekins McBride.

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I'm originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the wonderful Eagles.

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And although not living there anymore, they're still one of my choice teens,

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along with, of course, the Titans.

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I was in the banking profession for over 34 years,

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retired from there, and then went to work for the state with Tennessee Housing Development Agency,

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which was a wonderful experience because my job was to go out into the,

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community. Actually, I have 41 counties. You know, Tennessee has 96, so it's a big place.

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And to talk to mayors and legislators and housing specialists to let them know

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what we could do in order to help their community.

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It could have been a tornado, it could have been a flood, or just the lack of housing.

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Okay. Well, obviously, we also worked with nonprofits.

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So it was great. It really was.

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But I retired from there, and I thought I was going to come home and,

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I don't know, what I've read, relax and go out from time to time.

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But I feel like I'm back at work. But in this time, it's doing things that I've

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never had a chance to do or didn't have the time to do. So that.

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So retirement is not what because we all inside of our heads,

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we all have a facade of what we think things are going to look like in certain

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areas of our life and in certain points of our lives.

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You know, like you said, on the movies, they show people on the beach and they're

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just relaxing and they've got on their hula skirts and their plaid shirts or whatever.

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And they're just turning back drinks and the sun is just on them and they're

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just they're just wasting the day away.

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Well, that was never going to be me.

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What I thought was now I could go to my exercise classes in the daytime versus

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trying to go out to work and you're just dog tired.

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I don't work well like that. So I was able to do that.

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Also take calligraphy, just do some things that I have not had a chance to do.

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Also, I was going to continue writing, but I would have more time. But...

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The 6888 came in, and the writing has subsided.

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All righty. So you've opened that door. Let's walk into that door.

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Let's walk into that space.

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The 6888, so your mother's name?

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Phyllis Wheatley Inez Galloway, married name Meekins.

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Ooh, that's a lot of names there, baby. That's right. Right.

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Well, you know who Phyllis Wheatley was.

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Yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm sure I know where she got that from. Inez, I'm not sure.

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Galloway obviously was the maiden name and Meekins was the married name.

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But the way I was introduced to the 6888, please, please understand.

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It's not that I've known about them all my life.

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Not at all. Well, actually, a friend of ours, we call her Mother Betty because

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she's also in her 80s and 90s.

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And she called me one day and she said, I am reading an article about this military group.

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And I think that's your mother. Because, you know, I had discussed,

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you know, that she had been in the military, among other things.

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And I said, well, what makes you think that?

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She said, well, it's an all-black troop.

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Well, my father was living and I had moved him down here from Philadelphia and

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I went over there and I said, Daddy, Betty just told me, she read an article,

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she's sending it to me about this military group that,

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I'm trying to decipher, was that where mommy was?

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And he said, what's the number? And I said, oh, I'm trying to think.

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It was a whole lot of the same numbers.

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He said, the six-triple eight? I said, yeah, that's it?

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He said, yeah, that's the one she was in. I said, you're kidding me. He says, no, no, no.

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So I got the article from Betty, and I read it.

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And I actually tried to get in touch with the person who wrote it.

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I went on my LinkedIn because this person was on LinkedIn, but this is funny.

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They had the advanced version.

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I didn't want to pay for the advanced version.

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Most of us don't want to pay for the advanced version.

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So I found someone else who was in the article and I contacted her and she responded immediately.

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And she sent me the people from Virginia and it showed my mother's name.

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I said, oh, my gosh.

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So we had, I called her and we had a brief conversation. And she said,

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if you're interested in joining this group, there's not many of us. I think it was maybe 10.

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I said, oh, absolutely.

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So the first thing I did, even before joining the group, I saw a documentary listed.

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I'd never heard of the company, but that doesn't mean anything. So I wrote them.

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I saw how much it would cost to get the documentary. It arrived,

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and as soon as it came, I put it in the VCR.

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And I was surprised because it wasn't the kind of documentary I thought.

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It was all the women that were being interviewed.

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So I'm looking at real footage of these women.

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And of course, I'm trying to see if I could find my mother as you see them marching,

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but it's really almost impossible.

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One, because when you're in the same uniform and basically the same hairstyle, Thank you.

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You don't really see any distinguishing features unless you're going to get

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close up on someone. Right. It kind of all blends together.

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We couldn't. And they were marching so quickly, you couldn't stop the tape to

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see if that was the person behind. It just didn't work that way.

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And so I got all that out of my mind and said, look, let me just listen to this

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documentary and learn from it. Okay, so that's how it first started.

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And I attended one of the telephone calls that we had with the 10 people.

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Now, I'm not sure how I got involved to this point, because all of it's now on me.

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And we have 105 people now.

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So we have grown. But I will say that Tyler Perry really has to be commended

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because even though I've been telling the story for about a couple of years, two or three years,

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there's no way I could reach the audience that he did.

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And when he was able to do that, so now if I say to you, I want to talk to you

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about the six triple eight, or did you see the movie? There's that interest there.

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And I've watched the movie a couple of times with different groups.

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And each time I've gotten something out of it. Now, it is a historical fiction.

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Everything that in the movie did not happen the way you saw it.

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Did you see the movie? Maybe I should ask you that first.

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Yes, ma'am. I've seen the movie. Okay. Okay.

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So as I said the other day, and I'm not sure you were there when I was talking, I'm

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that we all have to remember that this all occurred in the 40s.

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In the 40s, it feels like the 40s now, but it was a different time.

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And so you had two generations with these women.

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You had the greatest generation, women born between 1901 and 1927.

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And then you had the silent generation, 1928 to 1945. So if you look at that,

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that first generation, they went through the Depression.

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So they understood what hardship was about.

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And they were ready to change the system.

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That silent generation that came in, that was really made of people that were

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like Martin Luther King.

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Okay, more activist, advocate, yes.

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Yes, absolutely. And so their way of changing was really learning to work within the system.

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So when I think about it, you know, the boycotting, the trash system in Memphis,

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all of that was considered conforming, which it really wasn't,

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but it was doing in a different way.

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Because honestly, you know, when you hit the pocket, that's really what hurts. most people.

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So anyway, so that's what you had. This was definitely the Jim Crow era.

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In Philadelphia, I never saw what people in the South saw at all.

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So I had a different perspective, but I knew it existed, believe me.

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So during this time, the only difference was, you know, you just didn't have

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the shackles, But you were treated as a second-class citizen.

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One of the things that military men and women,

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black, really hoped for was that when the United States sees that we are all

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fighting for the same thing, that you will see me differently.

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Because over in Europe, they didn't have Jim Crow.

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So you could go everywhere you could do everything. I mean, if you had the time to do it.

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But you certainly weren't treated poorly. You were treated poorly by the white

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soldiers, not the people in England or in France.

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So you were trying to escape something, but you couldn't because you still had

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the sexism and the racism and the segregation.

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But what made this battalion so superior, not just the work that they did,

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they had about 6,500 Black women in the military at that time.

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But only a select few could go on this mission.

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So in total, the movie tells you it was 855, and that number has been ringing

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in everyone's ears for years. But it's not true.

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It's 900 women, 31 of them being officers.

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And they did have a commanding officer. Charity Adams was no joke.

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She was not only intelligent, she majored. She went to Wilberforce University.

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And a matter of fact, she also did some teaching at TSU and some other school.

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But anyway, she had a degree in mathematics and physics.

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She had great leadership skills, charisma, and she had battalion training.

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Every black officer that went

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into training didn't mean that they were going to get a good position.

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You know, they still relegated us to being head of the bakery.

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But in this case, she wasn't. And that was great.

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And they did not expect her to succeed. It wasn't even a consideration.

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You're going to fail because the white women have failed.

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We know that, but we'll send you over there anyway. Of course.

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And as the story goes, which is true, they developed an unbelievable system.

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The only thing I can tell you is it's called the locator system.

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I have seen some of the charts when I've gone to Fort Greg Adams Museum in Virginia.

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But I'll tell you now, I don't know anything about what they had on those boards.

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I didn't understand it. It was like high eclipics. But it was very impressive

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that she understood, along with these women,

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that if you don't have mail, then that's going to be a difficult period.

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I did a presentation over at, it was called Grits and Gray, and it's a veteran

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building on 12th Avenue.

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And so when I mentioned that, they said, Denise, you may not believe it,

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But when mail call comes and there's nothing for you, you really feel dejected.

00:20:56.544 --> 00:21:01.144
You know that your family hasn't forgotten you, but you need something.

00:21:02.364 --> 00:21:06.224
And if you think about all of the soldiers, they were fairly young.

00:21:06.604 --> 00:21:09.744
They had not been away from home, let alone overseas.

00:21:11.264 --> 00:21:17.204
So, yes, it was, they needed that boost for the morale.

00:21:17.944 --> 00:21:22.004
Because honestly, when you think about it, if you're low in your morale,

00:21:22.304 --> 00:21:26.044
are you paying attention the way you should in a war?

00:21:26.524 --> 00:21:28.544
No, it lowers productivity.

00:21:29.044 --> 00:21:34.544
Right. Are you focused right? And so they understood that.

00:21:35.344 --> 00:21:40.884
And she developed that system of having three shifts per day.

00:21:41.883 --> 00:21:45.963
65,000 parcels per hour.

00:21:46.543 --> 00:21:54.683
And you may have heard me say they did a comparison of what the white troop did.

00:21:55.063 --> 00:21:59.483
See, I had it. I don't know if I can find it. But, oh, here it is.

00:22:00.083 --> 00:22:08.203
They said that the white postal unit in 30 days did 624,000 pieces of mail.

00:22:08.203 --> 00:22:12.143
Which, honestly, I think that's stupendous.

00:22:12.383 --> 00:22:14.323
That's a lot of money. That's amazing.

00:22:14.763 --> 00:22:18.883
We can't do that. Me and you and everybody here, we can't do that.

00:22:20.543 --> 00:22:27.783
Certainly not our postal system now. But anyway, as much as we all thought that

00:22:27.783 --> 00:22:30.043
was something, it could not keep up.

00:22:30.663 --> 00:22:37.583
So what these women did in 30 days with 5.8 million pieces of mail,

00:22:38.203 --> 00:22:41.783
And I can't even wrap my arms around that.

00:22:42.123 --> 00:22:49.683
Yeah, that's unfathoming to put the letter that you put behind that number and

00:22:49.683 --> 00:22:54.243
say that these women did this in 30 days. Right, right.

00:22:54.703 --> 00:23:01.683
And so this task was supposed to be for six months, and they did it in three

00:23:01.683 --> 00:23:03.423
months in Birmingham, England.

00:23:04.503 --> 00:23:09.303
I have some of my mother's writings, journal writing,

00:23:09.623 --> 00:23:15.603
and the way she discovered that she was going to be asked to go overseas,

00:23:15.603 --> 00:23:19.743
she was working in the publication division. This is in Iowa.

00:23:20.683 --> 00:23:23.843
And they called her and said, you need to go to the medical,

00:23:23.863 --> 00:23:27.363
I'll just say building, I'm not sure what they called it.

00:23:28.203 --> 00:23:35.303
And so she did, and she asked at the information desk, why am I being called? What's going on?

00:23:35.543 --> 00:23:37.523
Said, well, the doctor will be with you shortly.

00:23:38.183 --> 00:23:41.963
So I'm not sure what she was thinking. They're like, what? Because you've already

00:23:41.963 --> 00:23:44.743
had the physical to get in. So what is this?

00:23:45.503 --> 00:23:51.803
So she got in there, and it was an informal interview. And then he told her

00:23:51.803 --> 00:23:57.803
that she was to report the next day at 8.30 a.m. for her physical.

00:23:58.743 --> 00:24:05.983
And she looked at him and said, am I going somewhere?

00:24:06.963 --> 00:24:11.523
And he said, if you pass your physical, then you will be going overseas.

00:24:12.883 --> 00:24:18.843
Wow. Okay. So she went back to her office and, you know, everyone turned to

00:24:18.843 --> 00:24:21.923
look at her because, of course, you know, when you've been called out,

00:24:22.043 --> 00:24:22.923
it's kind of like school.

00:24:23.143 --> 00:24:26.583
You're called out to the office and everyone wants to know what happened. So.

00:24:27.516 --> 00:24:32.616
So she told them, she said, I spoke to the doctor and I have my physical tomorrow.

00:24:32.616 --> 00:24:36.116
And he said that if I pass, I'll be going overseas.

00:24:36.636 --> 00:24:43.316
And what I enjoyed about her writing that was that she said that the other girls

00:24:43.316 --> 00:24:46.116
said, oh, that is fantastic.

00:24:47.136 --> 00:24:51.736
I hope I'll be called too. But good luck to you.

00:24:52.116 --> 00:24:56.196
So there wasn't any, it didn't appear to be any jealousy. See,

00:24:56.396 --> 00:24:58.396
it's, gosh, I just hope I get to go.

00:24:58.976 --> 00:25:02.336
Right. Everybody wanted to be in that number. Right.

00:25:02.676 --> 00:25:08.556
So the next day, she reported 830 and had her physical. And then after that,

00:25:08.716 --> 00:25:10.776
she had to go to the chaplain.

00:25:11.816 --> 00:25:17.936
Now, there's nothing in her writing as to why. But I'm thinking the chaplain

00:25:17.936 --> 00:25:20.136
knows they're going overseas.

00:25:20.796 --> 00:25:28.576
The chaplain knows that it's a war, that maybe we need to just see if the person

00:25:28.576 --> 00:25:35.316
is steady with their thinking or they understand what they're getting into.

00:25:35.516 --> 00:25:36.856
I don't know what they said.

00:25:37.076 --> 00:25:41.036
I'm making that up. I'm just trying to guess what the chaplain would be saying.

00:25:41.976 --> 00:25:43.216
So she said she waited.

00:25:44.436 --> 00:25:49.456
She said it was hours and hours. But according to the writing,

00:25:49.776 --> 00:25:55.016
she waited four hours, not eight, like it sounded at first.

00:25:55.976 --> 00:26:02.736
And it came back and it said, you passed and you will be going overseas.

00:26:02.956 --> 00:26:04.596
Now, you know, they didn't know where they were going.

00:26:05.276 --> 00:26:12.976
Not just them. Charity Adams didn't know either. She could not open up her instructions

00:26:12.976 --> 00:26:18.136
until they were so far over the water.

00:26:18.516 --> 00:26:23.536
Then they would tell you where you were going. I assume so that if anything

00:26:23.536 --> 00:26:26.776
fell into enemy hands, no one would know where you're going.

00:26:27.831 --> 00:26:36.631
So now the way that these ladies went over, they didn't go by plane like Charity and the other officers.

00:26:37.131 --> 00:26:40.071
They went by ship.

00:26:40.691 --> 00:26:47.871
And you're supposed to have escorts when you're in a military ship.

00:26:48.011 --> 00:26:49.611
I mean, it used to be a luxury ship.

00:26:49.771 --> 00:26:53.031
They took all the beauty out and left it a core.

00:26:54.511 --> 00:27:01.191
And because they were trying to avoid being torpedoed by German soldiers,

00:27:01.191 --> 00:27:03.931
they were going back and forth,

00:27:04.111 --> 00:27:10.531
back and forth, and they were nauseous, I mean, just from that ride.

00:27:11.471 --> 00:27:18.171
Now, the movie says that once they arrived in Scotland and boarded the train,

00:27:18.671 --> 00:27:21.231
then they immediately had to go march.

00:27:21.811 --> 00:27:26.311
That was fiction. They did not. They could not.

00:27:27.591 --> 00:27:37.791
When they landed, got off the train, I was so pleased to see that it was a black

00:27:37.791 --> 00:27:39.771
chaplain that met with them.

00:27:40.531 --> 00:27:47.691
I am sure that gave them some peace and comfort because in the movie,

00:27:47.971 --> 00:27:52.791
it shows the chaplain chastising everybody, especially Kerry Washington.

00:27:53.965 --> 00:27:57.945
And I was thinking to myself, oh, my gosh, it's already a battle,

00:27:57.945 --> 00:28:01.925
and you'd have to endure that. Now, perhaps that did happen.

00:28:02.345 --> 00:28:06.125
What I'm telling you is it did not happen when they arrived.

00:28:06.625 --> 00:28:09.445
They were met by a kind person.

00:28:09.985 --> 00:28:14.765
So by the time they got to the barrack,

00:28:15.645 --> 00:28:21.385
which none of them knew what to expect, that Charity Adams and the rest of her

00:28:21.385 --> 00:28:29.985
ABLE officer crew had already determined what the jobs were going to be because

00:28:29.985 --> 00:28:32.605
you've got to sustain yourself.

00:28:33.705 --> 00:28:38.045
I am sure they already knew what their skills were by the applications.

00:28:38.385 --> 00:28:42.505
So they were able to say, OK, we have people that can do the motor,

00:28:42.725 --> 00:28:49.745
motor cars. We have people that are skilled in auto mechanics.

00:28:50.265 --> 00:28:56.025
We have people that are stylists, seamstress, clerical.

00:28:56.105 --> 00:28:58.585
I mean, we have everything, a little nation.

00:29:00.005 --> 00:29:06.525
So it was, I'm not saying it was easy. Nothing is easy, but they had a plan

00:29:06.525 --> 00:29:07.845
that they could carry out.

00:29:08.105 --> 00:29:11.165
And I think that part is beautiful.

00:29:12.285 --> 00:29:17.845
They still didn't know how much mail there was going to be.

00:29:18.505 --> 00:29:27.405
And I think the movie is priceless as you see Kerry Washington looking and saying,

00:29:27.785 --> 00:29:30.125
well, maybe we ought to go and see what they're talking about,

00:29:30.365 --> 00:29:32.685
as she was talking to Abby Campbell.

00:29:33.845 --> 00:29:41.645
And so when they opened up those plane hangers, first you don't see her you

00:29:41.645 --> 00:29:44.305
don't see what she's looking at, and then you do see.

00:29:45.425 --> 00:29:50.265
That must have been just mind-blowing. What in the world?

00:29:50.905 --> 00:29:54.325
And for them to say, it's not just this one, it's all of these.

00:29:54.965 --> 00:30:01.525
That mail was from the top of the plane hangers all the way down.

00:30:01.665 --> 00:30:04.545
Those bags were heavy, very heavy.

00:30:05.125 --> 00:30:08.785
You have to remember, it was wintertime. There was no heat.

00:30:09.265 --> 00:30:16.505
It was damp. It was old, poor lighting, because they had to cover the top of

00:30:16.505 --> 00:30:22.025
the hangars so that enemies could not see inside.

00:30:22.585 --> 00:30:28.705
So now you're working in not only dim conditions, but just poor conditions.

00:30:30.146 --> 00:30:36.806
And I don't know what they must have thought, but I do know this.

00:30:37.546 --> 00:30:42.126
That's one thing that black people are resilient.

00:30:43.186 --> 00:30:46.726
You may have something in front of you that you don't quite know how you're

00:30:46.726 --> 00:30:52.066
going to get through it, but you put your thinking cap on and you work in teams and you get it done.

00:30:52.906 --> 00:30:57.986
And they did. And they had some fun, not necessarily doing that,

00:30:58.106 --> 00:31:00.126
but they did have some fun there.

00:31:00.886 --> 00:31:04.186
They had, I might not know this, but they had a softball team.

00:31:05.046 --> 00:31:09.666
They had a band because you have people that played instruments.

00:31:09.686 --> 00:31:15.386
My mother even mentioned that she was going to try out for the choir.

00:31:15.746 --> 00:31:20.486
I never did hear whether or not she made it or not, but she was.

00:31:21.446 --> 00:31:25.646
They won championships in basketball and softball.

00:31:26.666 --> 00:31:31.006
And though they didn't have a lot of money because most of them were sending

00:31:31.006 --> 00:31:34.706
the money home to their mothers and fathers, you know, families,

00:31:34.986 --> 00:31:40.186
they still ended up donating $4,500 to United College Fund.

00:31:40.746 --> 00:31:44.826
So they still were thinking about other people through it all.

00:31:44.826 --> 00:31:53.326
So when they left England, finished the job, 17 million pieces of mail,

00:31:53.746 --> 00:31:58.386
getting to the right people, what I didn't say was,

00:31:59.196 --> 00:32:04.376
reason why that was so difficult is because there were a lot of mail,

00:32:04.576 --> 00:32:09.456
7,500 to be exact, addressed to Robert Smith.

00:32:10.356 --> 00:32:14.556
Well, you know Robert Smith is common. When we used to have big old phone books,

00:32:14.736 --> 00:32:17.596
you could go pages and pages with Smith.

00:32:18.196 --> 00:32:21.396
Yes. Yeah, you could. You could really go.

00:32:23.916 --> 00:32:30.156
It was the same way. and then people just addressed it to, you know,

00:32:30.276 --> 00:32:34.136
Johnny or Bubba, just whatever.

00:32:35.196 --> 00:32:38.956
And I'm sure as they were addressing it, they're not thinking,

00:32:39.396 --> 00:32:45.476
not having been in that situation, that it just doesn't get to people like that.

00:32:45.736 --> 00:32:50.356
You know, that's not how it works. There were 4 million people that they were

00:32:50.356 --> 00:32:51.956
trying to disperse the mail to.

00:32:51.956 --> 00:32:59.676
That included the Navy, the Army, the CBs, as well as specialists that were

00:32:59.676 --> 00:33:02.976
there, just trying to get the mail to them.

00:33:03.396 --> 00:33:09.176
At the same token, soldiers are on the move. You know, they're not staying in one place.

00:33:09.536 --> 00:33:14.736
So by the time the mail gets to destination A, you've moved on to destination C.

00:33:15.516 --> 00:33:21.476
So all of that was difficult, but they really did have those extraordinary skills

00:33:21.476 --> 00:33:24.776
of being able to match up things.

00:33:25.616 --> 00:33:29.416
Something's in the letter, a fabric or something, and they could try to match

00:33:29.416 --> 00:33:31.336
it up to where that might have come from.

00:33:31.836 --> 00:33:38.056
Now, they did say in the movie, and this part is true, how dare you open up

00:33:38.056 --> 00:33:39.776
mail belonging to white people?

00:33:40.636 --> 00:33:46.876
But they had to anyway. They were trying to do it, one, to find the person.

00:33:47.956 --> 00:33:57.876
Two, it was their job to read mail that might have something in it that it shouldn't have.

00:33:58.156 --> 00:34:02.356
Now, I'm not talking about profanity. I'm talking about secrets.

00:34:03.922 --> 00:34:10.642
And so they had to be sure that if there was something that was a message coded,

00:34:11.142 --> 00:34:13.982
they had to be able to get that.

00:34:14.982 --> 00:34:21.482
So it wasn't about opening up someone's mail because you were interested in

00:34:21.482 --> 00:34:23.402
what they had to say. By no means.

00:34:24.322 --> 00:34:31.982
Doing your job and also trying to get you a letter from your loved one that

00:34:31.982 --> 00:34:33.122
you've been waiting for.

00:34:33.962 --> 00:34:38.722
So, anyway, they left there and went on to Rouen, France.

00:34:39.402 --> 00:34:42.362
My mother talked about France. She loved it.

00:34:43.542 --> 00:34:50.502
Because, oh, France is beautiful, number one. And it had lovely shops.

00:34:52.142 --> 00:34:59.062
It was luxurious. However, that's not how the French women felt about them.

00:34:59.722 --> 00:35:05.182
I'm not talking because they were black. is that their country had been invaded

00:35:05.182 --> 00:35:10.562
and ravaged, and all of the luxuries that they had had, they feel like they had lost.

00:35:11.082 --> 00:35:14.482
As I'm sure if it was here, we would feel the same way.

00:35:14.982 --> 00:35:21.902
So that wasn't odd. They had POWs to help them with the mail, which was great.

00:35:22.342 --> 00:35:27.102
I didn't know this a long time ago, but this is probably standard.

00:35:28.262 --> 00:35:36.662
You're in the service, or have been. But when you capture another country or

00:35:36.662 --> 00:35:40.182
people, then they become your workers.

00:35:41.202 --> 00:35:44.782
Yes, yes. They become like a slave almost.

00:35:45.382 --> 00:35:49.302
That's horrible. But in this case, they did.

00:35:49.502 --> 00:35:54.942
They became the workers, and so they were able to lift those heavy bags and,

00:35:54.942 --> 00:35:57.762
you know, help the women.

00:35:59.043 --> 00:36:06.083
So, that ended. They solved the case there in Rouen in Paris.

00:36:06.423 --> 00:36:12.063
It was time to go home, and they boarded the Claymont.

00:36:12.603 --> 00:36:18.463
Everyone didn't leave at the same time. You still had people there that were finishing up.

00:36:19.383 --> 00:36:25.863
But the bulk of the people left, and then they went to Fort Dix and got their papers.

00:36:25.863 --> 00:36:30.603
The sad thing about all of it It was a great experience,

00:36:31.843 --> 00:36:39.603
But when they came home There was no fanfare I remember seeing movies And not

00:36:39.603 --> 00:36:46.083
just movies There's always in Time Magazine They always had the sailor And he's

00:36:46.083 --> 00:36:50.923
running He's running through his woman Or his children Yes,

00:36:50.923 --> 00:36:56.243
yes, yes, yes And everybody else is cheering And it's a parade and what have

00:36:56.243 --> 00:36:57.583
you. It's just glorious.

00:36:57.863 --> 00:37:01.423
We have appreciated everything you have done.

00:37:02.443 --> 00:37:08.423
It's almost like the vacation thing. What you see on TV versus what's real life.

00:37:08.563 --> 00:37:12.303
They got off the boat and it was like, oh, we're back in America. Right.

00:37:13.703 --> 00:37:22.183
Exactly. Exactly. But when we landed and came back home, there was nothing.

00:37:22.183 --> 00:37:25.943
There was no fanfare. There was no parade.

00:37:27.783 --> 00:37:32.543
Just, you know, go on back to whatever you were doing.

00:37:32.983 --> 00:37:38.123
And again, now you're still going to be a second-class citizen because what?

00:37:38.263 --> 00:37:39.623
We still have Jim Carle here.

00:37:40.563 --> 00:37:47.983
So the fact that you served your country, you showed your love.

00:37:48.123 --> 00:37:49.563
And we've always done that.

00:37:50.283 --> 00:37:54.743
We've always loved our country. Our country just hasn't loved us.

00:37:56.028 --> 00:38:00.688
And that's just a sad statement. Yeah, it's very true.

00:38:00.828 --> 00:38:05.208
You're very true with that. It has been that way for ages.

00:38:05.968 --> 00:38:14.008
You know, a lot of things, a lot of the inventions that we use now in this time

00:38:14.008 --> 00:38:16.868
was invented by African-American people,

00:38:17.028 --> 00:38:23.208
but they don't get the recognition for that.

00:38:23.208 --> 00:38:29.628
At it it's it's it's the same with your mother and the six triple eights is they went and,

00:38:30.548 --> 00:38:38.288
revolutionized a partial service that that their counterparts the caucasian women couldn't,

00:38:38.848 --> 00:38:44.208
get together and like you said there was no celebration there was no fanfare

00:38:44.208 --> 00:38:49.728
there was no open arms for them when they came home it was like okay now go

00:38:49.728 --> 00:38:53.028
find a job going back in that kitchen and start cooking.

00:38:53.268 --> 00:38:58.928
Go on back over there and start nursing these babies and work for the man.

00:38:59.328 --> 00:39:01.368
Yeah, I mean, exactly.

00:39:01.808 --> 00:39:07.828
And what really brought it home just the other day, I was watching CBS Sunday

00:39:07.828 --> 00:39:10.968
morning, and they were talking,

00:39:12.108 --> 00:39:18.668
to really the children of the Holocaust, but they are now 90 years old too.

00:39:20.148 --> 00:39:24.288
And they said you know we keep telling our story,

00:39:25.208 --> 00:39:29.408
and it is sad to know that in eight years,

00:39:30.268 --> 00:39:39.548
maximum we will all be gone I mean gone off the earth and the way that we're

00:39:39.548 --> 00:39:46.928
holding knowledge back we don't want people to read we don't want them to know history,

00:39:47.648 --> 00:39:52.688
It's all American history Yes, it's been done by different people But it's still our history.

00:39:54.008 --> 00:39:58.048
Someone might say 20 years from now What Holocaust?

00:39:58.488 --> 00:40:04.868
There was never one There's no one who can tell you that I'm pretty sure If

00:40:04.868 --> 00:40:12.268
we asked a 20 year old Right now what the Holocaust is They couldn't tell you what it is No,

00:40:13.088 --> 00:40:22.368
And that's very sad because I don't think it's the young people that are saying, I don't want to know.

00:40:22.568 --> 00:40:29.808
You're taking all this information from them, which really keeps them very stupid, really.

00:40:30.408 --> 00:40:37.888
But, you know, you want to whitewash everything to say that there is only one

00:40:37.888 --> 00:40:39.248
race that ever did anything.

00:40:40.382 --> 00:40:47.782
It's very sad. But anyway, regardless, these women were pioneers or trailblazers,

00:40:47.902 --> 00:40:49.362
whatever word we want to use.

00:40:49.482 --> 00:40:58.562
And they did dispel stereotypes and did represent a change in racial and gender roles in the military.

00:40:59.162 --> 00:41:05.382
I know the military still has issues, at least the ladies I spoke to.

00:41:05.382 --> 00:41:10.662
I didn't hear where things had changed so significantly.

00:41:11.262 --> 00:41:16.562
I'm not saying they didn't have change, but I saw them nodding their heads like,

00:41:16.942 --> 00:41:19.942
I know what this is about.

00:41:21.342 --> 00:41:25.962
These women still, despite it all, they loved our country.

00:41:26.542 --> 00:41:33.062
They were excited about the opportunity to further their education Because remember,

00:41:33.502 --> 00:41:37.942
as a WAC, you were entitled to the GI Bill.

00:41:39.022 --> 00:41:44.722
And so they also shared a sense of purpose and determination.

00:41:44.722 --> 00:41:52.882
And I say travel, of course, shared experiences, and a sisterhood.

00:41:53.082 --> 00:42:00.502
There's no way you couldn't have a sisterhood living with a number of arms. I'm sorry.

00:42:01.682 --> 00:42:09.002
Living with people, and then actually being side by side through good and bad instances.

00:42:10.782 --> 00:42:14.842
So out of the 900, we have two left.

00:42:15.482 --> 00:42:20.102
One is 104, Mrs. McClendon, and Ms.

00:42:20.202 --> 00:42:30.242
Robertson is age 100. And that is why we want so much that the Congressional

00:42:30.242 --> 00:42:33.822
Gold Medal Ceremony, we want it now.

00:42:34.522 --> 00:42:38.382
And I don't know if I mentioned this to you, it is going to be now.

00:42:38.942 --> 00:42:46.662
Right. It's got to be now. It's got to be right now. It's going to be on April 29th.

00:42:47.836 --> 00:42:51.036
Wonderful, wonderful. That is right now.

00:42:51.316 --> 00:42:57.576
And I don't know if either one of those two women will be able to come because

00:42:57.576 --> 00:43:00.336
they have health challenges.

00:43:00.536 --> 00:43:03.296
And you know how DC is, you'll walk forever.

00:43:04.616 --> 00:43:11.696
And with DEI, honestly, I don't expect to see anything that's available for

00:43:11.696 --> 00:43:13.336
people that have any disability.

00:43:13.816 --> 00:43:20.696
Right. You don't know what they saw. But I do know that in both of their cities where they're from,

00:43:21.036 --> 00:43:27.616
something will be done stupendous because we want this for them more than for

00:43:27.616 --> 00:43:29.276
ourselves. My mother's gone.

00:43:29.736 --> 00:43:37.296
And yes, I want it to remember her by for everything that she did.

00:43:37.576 --> 00:43:43.936
But if she were here, I'd want it to go to her, just like those two women.

00:43:45.116 --> 00:43:51.776
And that's been the story. And sometimes I just sit back and say,

00:43:51.776 --> 00:43:54.576
I don't know if I could have done it.

00:43:55.236 --> 00:44:00.296
I just I don't know. I don't know. But it's a different time.

00:44:00.496 --> 00:44:02.516
They had good leadership.

00:44:03.596 --> 00:44:09.076
And I think I said in the beginning with Mary Bethune, who was wonderful.

00:44:09.076 --> 00:44:14.196
As a matter of fact, my daughter and son-in-law went to Bethune University.

00:44:14.836 --> 00:44:18.156
And it was college, and then it turned into university.

00:44:18.836 --> 00:44:28.216
I remember going there, and they have a ceremony every year honoring, you know, Dr. Bethune.

00:44:28.616 --> 00:44:31.296
It's part of the culture of the school.

00:44:31.856 --> 00:44:36.176
Just like it fits, it's the culture of the school to honor Dr.

00:44:36.956 --> 00:44:37.876
W.E. Du Bois.

00:44:40.839 --> 00:44:45.359
As you should. As you should. They've made strides.

00:44:45.579 --> 00:44:49.659
And I always applaud any HBCU school, and this is off the topic,

00:44:49.919 --> 00:44:58.259
but any HBCU school that honors their ancestors and what they provided to them

00:44:58.259 --> 00:45:00.599
and continue to provide.

00:45:02.499 --> 00:45:08.799
So, anyway. It's wonderful. And you've been a breath of air.

00:45:09.059 --> 00:45:13.499
We've got about 10 minutes left. If there's any information,

00:45:13.499 --> 00:45:21.439
where can people go and read about your mom and the story that you've heard from the back side?

00:45:22.059 --> 00:45:26.719
Can you give like a website or anything like tell the people where they can

00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:31.679
go to get information? because in the comment section, there were people asking,

00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:36.279
where can they go and read about your mom and read from the other side?

00:45:36.399 --> 00:45:42.199
Now, people have seen the movie, but you gave some insight on some other things,

00:45:42.219 --> 00:45:47.299
and I'm pretty sure the letters and the things that you have give a different deflection.

00:45:47.799 --> 00:45:51.239
Well, as a matter of fact, when we go on April 29th,

00:45:52.059 --> 00:45:57.399
one of the things that we're being asked to consider is if you have letters,

00:45:57.799 --> 00:46:04.159
Not uniforms, not that big stuff, but if you have letters or journals or whatever,

00:46:04.179 --> 00:46:07.239
if you want to give it to the Library of Congress.

00:46:07.459 --> 00:46:12.899
So I'm seriously thinking about that because I know they'll keep those documents.

00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:20.499
And me trying to keep them, I can't keep them in the pristine shape. I've done well.

00:46:21.730 --> 00:46:27.430
Know, for paper to be as old as it is, but I know that they will do a better

00:46:27.430 --> 00:46:33.310
job of it, and then I don't have to worry the next generation, next generation,

00:46:33.650 --> 00:46:36.730
you know, where are those documents, where are those papers, and all that.

00:46:36.830 --> 00:46:42.510
Now, I'll keep the medals and things that I have, just like I did for my father,

00:46:42.550 --> 00:46:48.330
but one book that, there are several books, oh, let me tell you something,

00:46:48.330 --> 00:46:50.050
I just thought about this.

00:46:50.770 --> 00:47:00.290
On, oh my God, the 28th, and I know the 1st, and the 2nd of March.

00:47:00.490 --> 00:47:03.030
Do you know what the Dark Horse Theater is?

00:47:03.530 --> 00:47:11.790
Yes, ma'am. Okay, there's a young lady, and I think her last name is McCollum, Mary McCollum.

00:47:12.230 --> 00:47:22.030
And believe it or not, she did a play in 2014 on the 6888, way before I knew

00:47:22.030 --> 00:47:24.150
anything about the way I do now.

00:47:25.010 --> 00:47:30.590
And she is resurrecting her play on those days,

00:47:31.110 --> 00:47:37.250
which if any of your listeners would like to see an abdication of a play,

00:47:37.630 --> 00:47:40.290
I think they should consider going.

00:47:41.450 --> 00:47:48.810
A book that Charity Adams wrote, it's called One Woman's Army.

00:47:49.350 --> 00:47:52.890
A Black Officer Remembers the Wack.

00:47:53.590 --> 00:47:57.250
One Woman's Army, Charity Adams Early.

00:47:58.430 --> 00:48:00.750
I have read it a couple of times.

00:48:01.970 --> 00:48:07.630
It's an easy read and it's written so well. You feel like you're there.

00:48:08.010 --> 00:48:12.250
And of course, the detail that she has, since it's coming from her,

00:48:12.450 --> 00:48:17.130
it's much more than I could ever do because it's her life she's talking about.

00:48:17.670 --> 00:48:19.530
But it's an excellent book.

00:48:20.130 --> 00:48:27.350
If you just simply put 6888 in Google, I can't tell you how much stuff will come up.

00:48:27.870 --> 00:48:33.690
It is incredible the amount of information that is on there.

00:48:34.290 --> 00:48:39.610
Now, you're not going to find that information on my mother because she was one of 900.

00:48:40.190 --> 00:48:45.810
She wasn't one of the stars in the movie. She's just one of those women that were marching.

00:48:46.510 --> 00:48:53.090
But I will say this, that all of those, I won't say all the women, I don't know that.

00:48:53.410 --> 00:48:59.050
The people, the descendants that I talk to now, our group.

00:49:00.206 --> 00:49:03.926
All of our mothers went on to do fabulous things.

00:49:04.486 --> 00:49:09.566
So it was almost like, okay, that's one part of their life, early life.

00:49:09.746 --> 00:49:11.066
None of them were married or anything.

00:49:11.766 --> 00:49:17.466
Then they got married, went to work, and then they developed their own careers.

00:49:17.666 --> 00:49:23.506
For my own mother, she turned out, she worked for the federal government for a while.

00:49:24.366 --> 00:49:31.306
And in 1973, she took her whole paycheck,

00:49:31.706 --> 00:49:35.286
and I don't think the paycheck was like $10,000 or anything like that,

00:49:35.506 --> 00:49:40.306
but she took her whole paycheck and really invested in herself.

00:49:41.466 --> 00:49:47.626
She decided that she was a very good amateur golfer, very good.

00:49:48.786 --> 00:49:53.346
And she decided she was going to take that to another level.

00:49:54.046 --> 00:50:01.446
First of all, black and brown children did not think they could even play golf. It was too expensive.

00:50:02.766 --> 00:50:07.586
They just weren't surrounded by it. But believe it or not, when my mother was

00:50:07.586 --> 00:50:09.526
nine years old in Orange, Virginia,

00:50:09.866 --> 00:50:19.986
there was a golf course near her home, and she saw it several times and thought it was so beautiful.

00:50:19.986 --> 00:50:22.946
I don't know what the serenity of it

00:50:22.946 --> 00:50:25.666
or the fact that it was you and

00:50:25.666 --> 00:50:30.946
the ball and of course other people but everything was determined by you it's

00:50:30.946 --> 00:50:38.746
not a team sport where what you do matters it's what I do and she never had

00:50:38.746 --> 00:50:43.346
a chance until she was grown she went right it was almost like,

00:50:44.498 --> 00:50:51.718
Time came, and now I can go and try something that I wanted to do at 9 and 10 years old.

00:50:52.438 --> 00:50:58.418
Because her first love was riding horses, and so she wanted to be a female jockey.

00:50:59.718 --> 00:51:05.878
Not sure that she understood that she would grow, and she would not be that

00:51:05.878 --> 00:51:08.698
demure size in order to be a jockey.

00:51:09.418 --> 00:51:14.278
Anyway, that was still her dream. I mean, my grandfather trained horses.

00:51:14.498 --> 00:51:16.578
You know, Virginia was great for that kind of thing.

00:51:17.858 --> 00:51:23.818
So anyway, so she started her own school. She started the school in her church,

00:51:23.998 --> 00:51:25.558
Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

00:51:26.258 --> 00:51:32.758
She went to the pastor, along with whom we call Mother the Church,

00:51:33.278 --> 00:51:38.298
and said, Phyllis wants to open a golf school.

00:51:38.598 --> 00:51:40.538
And she wants to start with the youth here.

00:51:41.758 --> 00:51:47.638
And he said, I know her love of golf. I know her passion. I know her determination.

00:51:48.038 --> 00:51:55.178
And yes, you can use the rooms downstairs, you know, but you'll have to clean it, whatever.

00:51:55.938 --> 00:52:02.778
And so my father came in and they worked and started that school. Then she went on and.

00:52:03.870 --> 00:52:14.470
Continued with her own training and became the second lady professional golf instructor ever.

00:52:14.950 --> 00:52:22.130
And when I say the second, the next one was not done until 20 years later.

00:52:22.750 --> 00:52:25.590
That's a long time not to have anybody else.

00:52:26.490 --> 00:52:34.130
Yes, it is. That is a long, long time. Yes. So I was fortunate the LPGAs called

00:52:34.130 --> 00:52:37.250
me and said, we want you to come down here.

00:52:37.330 --> 00:52:43.810
This was last May, and we'd like for you to be our featured speaker, which is fine.

00:52:44.410 --> 00:52:52.710
And so I did. And then right after that, I was asked by the Philadelphia Golf Club.

00:52:52.870 --> 00:52:56.710
It was called the Greens Ladies Golf Club. They started in 1954,

00:52:56.710 --> 00:52:59.450
and my mother was one of the members.

00:53:00.250 --> 00:53:09.230
And they actually sponsored her one year to go and play in a pro-am.

00:53:09.390 --> 00:53:11.910
A pro-am is an amateur and a professional player.

00:53:13.190 --> 00:53:16.950
And she did so well. Matter of fact, they won.

00:53:17.190 --> 00:53:24.990
And they won because she had like a 41-inch putt. I mean, it was just fantastic.

00:53:24.990 --> 00:53:26.910
She was over the moon. So was everybody.

00:53:27.830 --> 00:53:33.170
And so that just propelled it. But I told her golf club, you know,

00:53:33.290 --> 00:53:38.550
this is 50 years ago, that that was the start.

00:53:38.870 --> 00:53:45.570
I mean, her club gave back to people who were serious about going to the next level.

00:53:47.150 --> 00:53:48.910
And that meant a lot.

00:53:50.061 --> 00:53:55.321
Really meant a lot. So not only did she do that, but her school became,

00:53:55.681 --> 00:53:58.821
you heard of the first tee?

00:53:59.361 --> 00:54:06.141
Have you ever heard of first tee? They talk about first tee at a lot of golf courses.

00:54:06.841 --> 00:54:16.461
Well, her first tee was way before first tee was ever thought of because they didn't even have that.

00:54:16.661 --> 00:54:19.181
I mean, she was always before her time.

00:54:19.581 --> 00:54:25.401
No one had thought about, because these were black and brown children,

00:54:26.101 --> 00:54:34.241
she supplied them with all of their clothing, all of their clubs, their balls,

00:54:34.941 --> 00:54:37.801
their caps or visors, whatever.

00:54:38.201 --> 00:54:44.881
She taught etiquette. She had tutoring for them for academic subjects.

00:54:45.881 --> 00:54:53.501
They have everything. And then she was able to take that course and expand it

00:54:53.501 --> 00:54:59.661
year round and then have them be on the golf course in the summertime.

00:55:00.301 --> 00:55:07.521
It was called Freeway Golf Course. There were only two or three Black golf courses,

00:55:07.521 --> 00:55:10.161
and that one was one in Sickleville, New Jersey.

00:55:10.621 --> 00:55:15.301
So those children had a chance to see Black ownership.

00:55:16.879 --> 00:55:23.619
So it was just remarkable, remarkable. Those students, some went on to go to

00:55:23.619 --> 00:55:26.959
college and play golf and do other things.

00:55:27.299 --> 00:55:30.439
My daughter went to school on a golf scholarship.

00:55:31.699 --> 00:55:37.819
So, yeah. That's beautiful. It gave the experience, like you said,

00:55:37.939 --> 00:55:40.139
that a lot of black and brown children won't get.

00:55:40.299 --> 00:55:43.399
Now, you know, here in Nashville, we have a black golf course,

00:55:43.519 --> 00:55:44.799
the Ted Rose Golf Course.

00:55:44.979 --> 00:55:47.979
Well, it was. It's wonderful.

00:55:48.439 --> 00:55:53.619
You know, we are almost out of time. I just wanted to say thank you.

00:55:54.019 --> 00:56:00.239
Thank you so much. My pleasure. Thank you so much for listening to the story

00:56:00.239 --> 00:56:02.159
because it is an important story.

00:56:02.179 --> 00:56:08.619
And what I keep telling people is tell one other person, not just this story,

00:56:08.639 --> 00:56:11.119
because we've got hundreds of stories.

00:56:11.579 --> 00:56:15.939
Yes. Yes, we do. Let's share our stories.

00:56:16.879 --> 00:56:23.299
You know, we're responsible for ourselves and we're proud of ourselves. And let's show that.

00:56:23.819 --> 00:56:30.999
Yes, ma'am. Denise McBride, we thank you here at the Kickback and you have a wonderful afternoon.

00:56:31.459 --> 00:56:37.639
And we will be checking back in with you and looking out for some more great

00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:40.659
information when it comes to the six triple eights.

00:56:40.839 --> 00:56:43.839
OK, OK. Stay tuned for April.

00:56:44.519 --> 00:56:48.499
All right. Yes, ma'am. Thanks so much for the opportunity.

00:56:48.999 --> 00:56:53.279
You're welcome, ma'am. Have a great night. Okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

00:56:59.440 --> 00:57:26.800
Music.

00:57:05.739 --> 00:57:10.479
The Kickback, a place for brothers Bye-bye.

00:57:14.059 --> 00:57:17.619
I kick back a place for brothers and sisters.

00:57:20.699 --> 00:57:29.379
To kick back, a place for brothers, to kick back, a place for brothers,

00:57:29.559 --> 00:57:34.379
to kick back, a place for brothers.