Proclamation honors Moultrie native for service in World War II

Published 4:41 pm Monday, June 19, 2023

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED, that the Mayor and Council of the City of Moultrie, Georgia, express their pride and appreciation to the family of Willie Belle Irvin-Partridge for her selfless and patriotic contributions to the United States of America, and hereby declare June 16, 2023 as “WILLIE BELLE IRVIN-PARTRIDGE OBSERVANCE DAY” in Moultrie, Georgia.

Done this 16th day of June, 2023.

William M. McIntosh, Mayor

With those words, the legacy of Willie Belle Irving-Partridge has returned full circle – more than 70 years later, from the distant lands of war-torn Europe during World War II, back to her native home of Moultrie, Ga.

On what would have been her 100th birthday, Irvin-Partridge, a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal recipient and member of the U.S. Army’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, was celebrated by several friends, family members, and city representatives in a Friday morning ceremony at the Museum of Colquitt County History.

Mayor William McIntosh presented Brenda Partridge-Brown with a formal proclamation, declaring June 16 as a city observance for her mother, Irving-Partridge, in recognition for her service to the country.

McIntosh explained the significance of honoring Irving-Partridge’s service, as well as recognizing the impact her historical contributions made on not just the city of Moultrie, but the United States as well.

“Moultrie has a lot of history. This is just an incredible story of service, and it makes us so proud that [Irving-Partridge] was from Moultrie, and to know what she contributed to this country — she was a true hero. Now we’ve got a real celebrity from Moultrie, Georgia,” he said.

Irving-Partridge joined the Women’s Army Corps in 1944 and was subsequently assigned to the 6888th Battalion. Better known as the “Six Triple Eight,” the all-Black unit was deployed overseas in 1945 and tasked to sort and deliver a vast backlog of mail to the seven million American soldiers and government employees stationed in Europe. For the service members, the only connection to home were the thousands of parcels, packages and letters that reached to the ceiling of a cold, dark, windowless warehouse in Birmingham, England. The women of the 6888th were given the unfathomable deadline of processing and distributing the multitudinous amount of mail in six months.

They did it in three.

Working in shifts, with very little light or heat due to the continuous onslaught of battle going on around them, the 6888th was able to process an astonishing 65,000 pieces of mail per shift. Using the motto “No Mail, Low Morale” to remind them of the importance of their mission, they developed a system so efficient that they were tasked to duplicate their efforts again, this time in Rouen, France. According to a Department of Defense publication, by the time the unit returned to the United States and disbanded in 1946, they had distributed an estimated 17 million pieces of mail.

Until recent years, the unit’s extraordinary feat of accomplishment had gone unnoticed and unheralded. However, on March 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill recognizing the women of the 6888th and awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal.

Fred E. Cooks III, president of the board of directors for the Museum of Colquitt County History said Irvin-Partridge’s role in the war was just as important as the soldiers who were fighting.

“She was a member of the greatest generation, and I can’t help but I appreciate anybody that’s brave enough to put on the uniform, and say, ‘I’ll go wherever you send me,’’ he said. “That’s essentially what those 16 million Americans did. What she did was every bit as supportive as what a foot soldier did on the front line.”

Partridge-Brown, who is writing a book about her mother’s time in service, and eagerly anticipating a Tyler Perry-backed Netflix production on the 6888th, said her mother would be ecstatic at receiving the honor — particularly because she served during a time when segregation was prevalent in the U.S., and the country was not welcoming to people of color.

“My mother would be so proud that her hometown has recognized her as a native daughter, and the United States righted a wrong — because this was her beloved country that she served. She realized that she was not loved back, but that did not stop her from loving her country,” Partridge-Brown explained. “I am so over the moon with this… when I walked into that room and I looked around at all those people, it was hard to contain myself because I know that my mother would be so proud of this — to come full circle and be able to say, yes it might be all these years in hindsight, but we thank you and we appreciate you for your sacrifice.”