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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Before we

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Speaker 1: get started today, we want to talk about two trips,

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Speaker 1: not just the one trip that we've been talking about,

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Speaker 1: which is to Paris June second through ninth. And if

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Speaker 1: you're listening to this podcast on the day that it

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Speaker 1: comes out, uh, they're just a few days left to

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Speaker 1: sign up for that trip and only a few spaces left. UM.

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Speaker 1: As of right now when we are recording, there are

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Speaker 1: six seats left on the trip that is from June

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Speaker 1: second to nine, nineteen to Paris, France. It's gonna be

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Speaker 1: so much fun. I cannot wait. I am very excited

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Speaker 1: about it. I don't know if I sound that excited

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Speaker 1: and my voice, but my body is vibrating with excitement.

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Speaker 1: And then also we have another show that we would

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Speaker 1: like to tell people about. When Holly and I toured

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Speaker 1: last year UM with our with our live shows, we

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Speaker 1: had a few folks ask us if we could come

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Speaker 1: to a place that doesn't have the word coast in

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Speaker 1: the name, and we are also going to do that

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Speaker 1: on July nineteen, we will be in Indianapolis, Indiana as

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Speaker 1: part of the kickoff for the Midwestern Roots Conference. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: That's gonna be a really fun time. I haven't been

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Speaker 1: back to Indianapolis in a long time, so I'm looking

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Speaker 1: forward to it. Uh, And we're gonna have some some

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Speaker 1: fun time uh with listeners who want to come and

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Speaker 1: hang out. Yeah. So if you want to find out

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Speaker 1: more about the Paris trip, come to our website, which

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Speaker 1: is missed in history dot com. There is a link

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Speaker 1: up at the top of the page that says Paris

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Speaker 1: Trip exclamation point, and then the Midwestern Roots Show is

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Speaker 1: going to be under the link that says live Shows,

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Speaker 1: which is also where we will be keeping all the

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Speaker 1: information about any other shows that we're going to do

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Speaker 1: this year, which there will be more. We have others

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Speaker 1: that will be in now a little later as well. Alright, Tracy,

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Speaker 1: with that business out of the way, are you ready

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Speaker 1: to talk about a little bit of history? I sure am.

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Speaker 1: Today we have a listener request. It is from Aaron

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Speaker 1: who asked on Twitter about the six thousand, eight hundred

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Speaker 1: eighty eight Central Postal Directory Battalion, also known as the

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Speaker 1: six Triple eight, that was part of the Women's Army

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Speaker 1: Corps during World War Two, And at first I thought

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Speaker 1: we've told some stories that feel similar to this one.

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Speaker 1: We have talked about the Women's Air Force Service pilots

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Speaker 1: and the women accepted for volunteer service from the United States,

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Speaker 1: and we've talked about the first Russian Women's Battalion of

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Speaker 1: Death in the Soviet Night Witches, and these have had

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Speaker 1: some really common themes. They've been really focused on the

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Speaker 1: twentieth century during wartime and needing to recruit some women

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Speaker 1: so that more men could go into combat, and militaries

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Speaker 1: really reluctantly or begrudgingly allowing these women as new recruits.

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Speaker 1: Usually the women in question have faced a lot of

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Speaker 1: discriminate and just outright hostility from their male peers and

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Speaker 1: their commanding officers, along with lots of questions about their character,

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Speaker 1: both from the military and civilians alike. But even though

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Speaker 1: it shares a lot of those same themes, the six

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Speaker 1: Triple Eight story is also really different. It has a

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Speaker 1: lot of elements that we haven't really covered before. Although

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Speaker 1: there were black American nurses in Europe as well during

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Speaker 1: World War Two, the six Triple Eight was the only

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Speaker 1: battalion of black women from the US to serve in

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Speaker 1: Europe during the war, and their work really illustrates how

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Speaker 1: huge parts of wartime military service aren't directly connected to

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Speaker 1: combat at all. In this case, it was making sure

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Speaker 1: American personnel in Europe could get their mail. So today

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Speaker 1: we're really going to focus on the parts of the

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Speaker 1: story that we haven't talked as much about before. We're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about why the U. S. Army needed

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Speaker 1: an entire battalion to deal with a mail backlog, and

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how the six Triple eight

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Speaker 1: did it so. Deliver mail from the United States to

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Speaker 1: a soldier deployed in Europe during World War Two is

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Speaker 1: a long, multi step process that involved both the US

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Speaker 1: Postal Service and the Army postal system. So let's say

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Speaker 1: Mary wanted to send a care package to her brother Henry.

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Speaker 1: She would box it up and address it using his name,

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Speaker 1: serial number, and unit, along with the Army Post Office

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Speaker 1: or APO assigned to it, and she would send it

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Speaker 1: care of a US postmaster. Mail bound for Europe was

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Speaker 1: usually sent care of the postmaster in New York, New York,

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Speaker 1: since that was its embarkation point. The mail has continued

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Speaker 1: to work basically that way for a really long time. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I have. I have sent packages to family um as

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Speaker 1: people know, I grew up in a military family and

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Speaker 1: friends as an adult, and similarly there is a very

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Speaker 1: very parallel situation going on. Still, Yeah, yeah, it's there's

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Speaker 1: usually still the military tends to know basically where people

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Speaker 1: are their families a lot of times don't, so it's

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Speaker 1: usually still the process of an a p O sending

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Speaker 1: it in care of a particular place in New York.

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Speaker 1: Mary's package would be sorted at a USPS concentration center,

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Speaker 1: and then that would be handed off to the Army

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Speaker 1: and it would travel to Europe by sea, because carrying

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Speaker 1: civilian packages by air was just way too expensive and

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Speaker 1: that cargo space was a lot more needed for the

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Speaker 1: war effort. Letters, on the other hand, could go by

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Speaker 1: air thanks to a thing called v mail that was introduced.

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Speaker 1: In v mail let people write letters on special paper

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Speaker 1: and then those would be transferred onto microfilm for transport

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Speaker 1: overseas by air, and then the letters would be printed

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Speaker 1: out again on the other side of the journey. So

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Speaker 1: once in Europe, Mary's theoretical package would move through the

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Speaker 1: Army postal system until reaching the a p O on

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Speaker 1: the address label, and then a mail clerk was responsible

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Speaker 1: for getting the mail from the APO to the soldier.

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Speaker 1: The APO was usually at the unit's headquarters, so if

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Speaker 1: Henry was on duty somewhere my ails away from headquarters,

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Speaker 1: Mary's package should still get to him. And within the

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Speaker 1: Army's postal system, each person had an address card that

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Speaker 1: was kept on file at the Directory Service, so if

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Speaker 1: a person moved, they were responsible for filling out and

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Speaker 1: submitting a change of address. Often, if a unit was

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Speaker 1: moving repeatedly, somebody within that unit was responsible for submitting

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Speaker 1: everyone's changes. When mail arrived in Europe from the US,

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Speaker 1: the postal division would try to deliver it as addressed,

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Speaker 1: but if the address was wrong for whatever reason, the

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Speaker 1: parcel went to the directory service, and the directory service

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Speaker 1: had an address card on file for each person, which

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Speaker 1: was supposed to be updated any time that person moved.

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Speaker 1: The Directory Service would use these cards to try to

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Speaker 1: track down the recipient. During the search, each person who

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Speaker 1: handled the piece of mail initialed it and dated it,

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Speaker 1: and if no one had been able to deliver it

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Speaker 1: after thirty days, it was returned to sender. So the

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Speaker 1: fact that any of this worked at all seems almost

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Speaker 1: miraculous to me. Even during peacetime, there was just a

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Speaker 1: lot that could go wrong in a system like this,

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Speaker 1: and during a war there was even more potential for

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Speaker 1: packages to become undeliverable, for for the address cards at

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Speaker 1: the directory service to be out of date. Plus the

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Speaker 1: scale of this entire operation was huge. In ninety one,

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Speaker 1: there were just a few thousand American service members in Europe,

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Speaker 1: but by ninety five there were an estimated seven million

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Speaker 1: Americans in the European theater of operations has included members

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Speaker 1: of the military along with civilian specialists, nurses, Red Cross volunteers,

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Speaker 1: elected officials, conducting tours and inspections. It just went on

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Speaker 1: and on. The Army was handling most of this male

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Speaker 1: To make things more complicated, when you have that many people,

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Speaker 1: a lot of them are going to have the same name.

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Speaker 1: Just as one example, more than seven thousand Americans in

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Speaker 1: the European theater were named Robert Smiths, having nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with the cure. And of those Robert Smiths, some

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Speaker 1: might be known to loved ones as Bob or Bobby

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Speaker 1: or Robbie or Bert or some other nickname. And their

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Speaker 1: mail might be addressed with that nickname instead of to Robert.

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Speaker 1: It also occurs to me that I am related to

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Speaker 1: a person whose name is actually Bobby, and if someone

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Speaker 1: tried to backwards engineer it to Robert, he would never

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Speaker 1: get his mail. That would be wrong. So loved ones

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Speaker 1: back home also weren't always meticulous about addressing their packages.

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Speaker 1: Are hypothetical. Mary was, but it really wasn't unheard of

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Speaker 1: for mail to be addressed along the lines of Junior

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Speaker 1: U S. Army. So it wasn't always just about figuring

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Speaker 1: out where this Robert Smith was stationed now after his

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Speaker 1: package came back to the Directory Services undeliverable, it was

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Speaker 1: also about figuring out which Robert Smith we were even

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Speaker 1: talking about, or figuring out who in the world this

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Speaker 1: Junior might be and where Junior's mail should go. The

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Speaker 1: Directory Services records included service members serial numbers to help

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Speaker 1: keep them all straight, but there could still be a

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Speaker 1: lot of duplicate names to have to go through. In

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Speaker 1: spite of all of these challenges, in the early years

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Speaker 1: of the United States involvement in the war, the mail

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Speaker 1: had continued to get through in Europe. Most of the time.

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Speaker 1: It might take a while, but people were still getting

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Speaker 1: their letters and packages from home eventually, but soon this

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Speaker 1: system was becoming overloaded. To try to reduce the volume

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Speaker 1: of mail, the Postmaster General ordered in nineteen forty three

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Speaker 1: that packages could only be sent to a p O

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Speaker 1: S in response to a soldiers specific request. Yeah that

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Speaker 1: it's not clear how much this was really enforced or

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Speaker 1: even enforceable, but sometimes people would send their package like

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Speaker 1: with the letter they had gotten saying please send me

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Speaker 1: some new underwear in there as sort of assurance that

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Speaker 1: this really was requested. Regardless though I mean that it

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Speaker 1: didn't do enough to cut down on the volume of

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Speaker 1: mail that needed to be handled. And then, in preparation

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Speaker 1: for the D Day invasion of June six, the number

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Speaker 1: of US troops and you're rips started growing dramatically, and

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Speaker 1: these troops and their mail were just moving around a

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Speaker 1: lot more in a region that was increasingly chaotic and dangerous.

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Speaker 1: By late ninety four, the situation was critical. The Battle

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Speaker 1: of the Bulge started on December sixteenth of that year

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Speaker 1: and lasted for more than a month, and just during

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Speaker 1: that battle, six airplane hangars full of mail were returned

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Speaker 1: from the European continent to England as undeliverable. These packages

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Speaker 1: weren't sent all the way back to North America. They

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Speaker 1: just waited in a warehouse, and because of the timing,

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Speaker 1: a lot of those returned packages were Christmas presents. All

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Speaker 1: those packages became part of a huge backlog of undelivered

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Speaker 1: mail just sitting in warehouses in England. Eventually there were

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Speaker 1: packages in this backlog that had been lingering for more

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Speaker 1: than two years. On top of the overall shortage in

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Speaker 1: labor for mail delivery, the military had been putting a

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Speaker 1: lot more focus on moving things like food and warm

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Speaker 1: here reel, which did seem more critical than personal mail.

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Speaker 1: But as this backlog of undelivered mail grew and grew,

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Speaker 1: it became clear that personal mail was also critical. Naturally,

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Speaker 1: people wanted to hear from their loved ones, people eagerly

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Speaker 1: or anxiously awaited news about the births of children, or

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Speaker 1: a loved one surgery, or all kinds of other events

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Speaker 1: in the lives of the people that they missed back home.

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Speaker 1: On top of that, most of the troops serving in

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Speaker 1: Europe had been drafted, and many of them were as

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Speaker 1: young as eighteen or nineteen years old. Some of them

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Speaker 1: had never left their home state or been separated from

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Speaker 1: their families for such a length of time, so a

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Speaker 1: lot of them had even more reason to be homesick

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Speaker 1: and just in need of contact with people from whom.

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Speaker 1: In other words, these people genuinely needed their mail. When

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Speaker 1: the mail slowed down or stopped, the troops morale suffered,

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Speaker 1: and that drop had the potential to reduce their overall effectiveness.

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Speaker 1: In late ninety four, the U. S. Army decided to

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Speaker 1: handle this backlog of mail by creating a special battalion

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Speaker 1: devoted specifically to addressing it. And we will get to

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Speaker 1: them after a sponsor break. As we said at the

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Speaker 1: top of the show. The six Triple eight was part

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Speaker 1: of the Women's Army Corps, and the Women's Army Corps

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Speaker 1: was initially created in nine two as the Women's Army

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Speaker 1: Auxiliary Corps. It was established quote for the purpose of

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Speaker 1: making available to the National defense the knowledge, skill and

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Speaker 1: special training of women of the nation. Its first director

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Speaker 1: was Ovida cult Hobby. The Auxiliary Corps was a non

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Speaker 1: combat voluntary core. It had its own training center with

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Speaker 1: its own officer candidate school, where officer candidates of different

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Speaker 1: races all trained together. Once they were through training. Though

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Speaker 1: the individual units were rachelly segregated, there were also individual

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Speaker 1: recruiters who refused to take applications from black women, either

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Speaker 1: because as of their own racism or because they mistakenly

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Speaker 1: believed that black women weren't allowed. As its name suggests,

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Speaker 1: the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps wasn't considered to be fully

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Speaker 1: part of the U. S. Army. At first, women only

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Speaker 1: worked state side. They were mainly doing clerical and food

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Speaker 1: service work, along with driving and operating radios and switchboards.

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Speaker 1: They also did some medical work, although the Army Nurse

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Speaker 1: Corps was a whole separate entity. Being an auxiliary unit

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Speaker 1: also meant that the women weren't eligible for overseas pay

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Speaker 1: or government issued life insurance, so when some of them

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Speaker 1: were sent to North Africa in late nineteen forty two,

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Speaker 1: it was without the corresponding increase in their pay and

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Speaker 1: without that insurance. That changed when the Women's Army Auxiliary

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Speaker 1: Corps became the Women's Army Corps or WHACK, which was

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Speaker 1: formerly part of the U. S. Army. President Franklin D.

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Speaker 1: Roosevelt signed the legislation to make this change on July one.

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Speaker 1: The WHACK gained official military status, including being eligible for

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Speaker 1: insurance and overseas pay. The Women's Army Corps went on

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Speaker 1: to recruit women from every U. S state and from

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Speaker 1: American territories, including Puerto Rico. Later on, several niss A

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Speaker 1: women joined the WHACK as well, and you can learn

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Speaker 1: more about the complicated history of niss A service in

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Speaker 1: the U. S. Armed Forces during World War Two in

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Speaker 1: our episodes on Executive Order nineties sixty six and in

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Speaker 1: the one specifically on NISSA in World War Two. Starting

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Speaker 1: with that first deployment to North Africa in nineteen forty two,

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Speaker 1: the women sent overseas through the Auxiliary Corps or the

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Speaker 1: WAX had all been white, but the War Department had

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Speaker 1: also briefly issued a request to send black women overseas

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Speaker 1: in nineteen forty two as well. However, that request was

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Speaker 1: really contentious because part of it was that these women

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Speaker 1: would quote provide companionship for thousands of Negro troops. The

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Speaker 1: Auxiliary Corps leadership was appalled and angry at this suggestion,

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Speaker 1: which was on its own offensive. On top of that,

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Speaker 1: they had had to continually push back against perceptions that

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Speaker 1: there was something morally questionable about these women and their service,

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Speaker 1: suggesting that the military wanted to send black women overseas

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Speaker 1: as companions just reinforce those perceptions. Ovida, called Pobby, refused

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Speaker 1: to allow it, and the War Department walked back its

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Speaker 1: request and stated that black women would be sent overseas

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Speaker 1: only if their presence was deemed a necessity. That led

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Speaker 1: to an ongoing campaign by civil rights activists, black journalists,

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Speaker 1: and advocates like Mary McLoud Bothoon who argued that the

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Speaker 1: black women should have the same opportunity as the white

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Speaker 1: women to serve in the roles that they had been

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Speaker 1: trained for. Yeah, when we say that they had been

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Speaker 1: having to push back against perceptions that there was something

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Speaker 1: morally questionable, these included things like false news reports about

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Speaker 1: widespread pregnancies and std outbreaks among the whack which were

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Speaker 1: just so heavily stigmatized and made it seem like there

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Speaker 1: was something nefarious going on, and like this was something

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Speaker 1: that they had actively been fighting against, and this, this

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Speaker 1: whole request reinforced that whole idea. In though the War

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Speaker 1: Department finally decided that it was a necessity to send

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Speaker 1: a battalion of black women to Europe and that battalion

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Speaker 1: was going to address that whole backlog of mail. This

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Speaker 1: battalion was, of course, the six Triple eight. It was

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Speaker 1: to be a self contained battalion rather than being connected

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Speaker 1: to a male unit, so it would be responsible for

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Speaker 1: everything that was needed to do the job, including things

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Speaker 1: like their own food service, their own administration, and their

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Speaker 1: own recreation. Even though the higher ups knew what this

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Speaker 1: unit's job would be, the women being recruited for it

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Speaker 1: didn't At first. All they knew was that there was

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Speaker 1: a chance to go overseas to serve, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of women were eager to have that chance. At the

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Speaker 1: same time, the overall number of black women in the

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Speaker 1: whack was still relatively small, and not all of them

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Speaker 1: met the criteria to go to Europe, which included passing

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Speaker 1: strict physical and psychological examinations as well as undergoing additional

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Speaker 1: training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. So it took a dedicated

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Speaker 1: recruiting effort to fill out the six Triple eate. It

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Speaker 1: ultimately had eight hundred twenty four enlisted personnel and thirty

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Speaker 1: one officers. In command was Major Charity Edna Adams, who

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Speaker 1: had been part of the women's Army Auxiliary Corps first

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Speaker 1: class of officers and was the first black woman to

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Speaker 1: be commissioned by the U S Army. Adams was a

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Speaker 1: huge part of the six Triple Eight, and she's a

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Speaker 1: good example of the kinds of skills and education that

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Speaker 1: were needed for black women to be considered as black officers.

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Speaker 1: Adams was from Columbia, South Carolina. She'd been valedictorian of

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Speaker 1: her high school class and had gone on to graduate

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Speaker 1: from Wilberforce University with majors in mathematics, physics, and Latin

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Speaker 1: along with a history miner and teacher certification. She had

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Speaker 1: gone back home to Columbia after graduation to work as

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Speaker 1: a teacher, and during the summer she took graduate courses

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Speaker 1: at Ohio State University. Adams joined the Women's Army Auxiliary

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Speaker 1: Corps in nine teen forty two after the Dean of

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Speaker 1: Women at Wilberforce recommended her and she got a letter

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Speaker 1: that invited her to join. When she was chosen to

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Speaker 1: command the six Triple Eight, she already had years of

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Speaker 1: experience as an officer working at the Wack Training Center

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Speaker 1: in Fort du Boines, Iowa. She joined the rest of

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Speaker 1: the battalion for training at Fort Oglethorpe, which included classroom training, drilling,

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Speaker 1: obstacle courses, evacuation drills, gas mask drills and the like.

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Speaker 1: But even as they were training, they still didn't know

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Speaker 1: what they were being sent to Europe to do. Adams

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Speaker 1: and her executive officer finally learned what their role would

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Speaker 1: be after going to England ahead of the rest of

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Speaker 1: the battalion in early nineteen The two of them flew

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Speaker 1: over the Atlantic and the first group of enlisted women

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Speaker 1: and officers followed by sea aboard the Le de France.

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Speaker 1: The Le de France departed from New York on February third,

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Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, and route to Glasgow, Scotland, evading German

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Speaker 1: U boats along the way, and then from there the

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Speaker 1: women traveled by train to Birmingham, England, where they arrived

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Speaker 1: on February. The day after their arrival, they held a

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Speaker 1: parade for Lieutenant General John C. H Lee, who was

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Speaker 1: the Deputy Commander of the European Theater of Operations. The

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Speaker 1: rest of the Six Triple Late arrived about fifty days

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Speaker 1: after this first group did. In Birmingham, the six Triple

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Speaker 1: Eates enlisted personnel were housed at King Edward's school and

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Speaker 1: officers were in a couple of houses. They managed their

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Speaker 1: own mess hall and recreational facilities and their own beauty salon.

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Speaker 1: But setting up a beauty shop with something of a challenge,

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Speaker 1: especially when it came to getting gas and electrical connections

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Speaker 1: in proximity to the salon chairs that Adams requisitions. In

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Speaker 1: her memoir, Adams wrote quote, it is perhaps wiser not

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Speaker 1: to detail the extent of our ingenuity. That beauty salon

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Speaker 1: might seem like a luxury, but was. It was really

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Speaker 1: a necessity, and not just because the women had to

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Speaker 1: meet military grooming standards. It was also to keep up

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Speaker 1: their own morale because, as it turned out, work through

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Speaker 1: this backlog of mail it was was a really difficult job.

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Speaker 1: And we will get to why after a sponsor break.

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Speaker 1: The six Triplate got to work in a warehouse in Birmingham,

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Speaker 1: England in February, and the temperatures there tended to be

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Speaker 1: in the thirties to forties fahrenheit, which is in the

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Speaker 1: single digits celsius. The warehouses they were working in we're

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Speaker 1: not well heated. So the women went to work every

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Speaker 1: day and as many layers as they could manage, but

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Speaker 1: they were still cold. This sounds utterly miserable to me. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The warehouse also was not well lit. Under normal conditions,

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Speaker 1: it's lighting would have been supplemented during the day by

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Speaker 1: natural light from the windows, but those had to be

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Speaker 1: covered over because of air raids. Plus, the six trip

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Speaker 1: late worked three eight hour shifts a day, seven days

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Speaker 1: a week, so some of the women were in the

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Speaker 1: warehouse sorting mail in the middle of the night when

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Speaker 1: there is no daylight to help in anyway. We mentioned

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Speaker 1: earlier that the backlogged mail included a lot of Christmas

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Speaker 1: parcels and some items that had been lingering in the

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Speaker 1: mail system for years. Some of these packages contained perishable

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Speaker 1: foods which had spoiled, and even when what was inside

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Speaker 1: was not spoiled, mice and rats and other vermin had

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Speaker 1: really invested a lot of these packages as well, and

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Speaker 1: even in the best circumstances, overseas shipping can be hard

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Speaker 1: on packages. The six Triple eight was often piecing together

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Speaker 1: packages that had physically disintegrated after getting wet or otherwise

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Speaker 1: being damaged, or just simply being sent from North America

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Speaker 1: and then around Europe without a sturdy enough container. These

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Speaker 1: women got really good at figuring out which random items

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Speaker 1: came out of the same broken package, using clues like

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Speaker 1: fuzz from a sweater that had rubbed off on multiple items,

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Speaker 1: or comparing just how damp each item was. They would

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Speaker 1: reconstruct these packages as well as they could before figuring

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Speaker 1: out where the recipients were and then sending them on.

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Speaker 1: This backlog was expected to take the Six Triple Eight

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Speaker 1: six months to deal with, but they cleared about sixty

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Speaker 1: five thousand pieces of mail per shift, and they finished

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Speaker 1: what they were doing in half the expected time. This

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Speaker 1: included resolving all of those discrepancies that we talked about

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Speaker 1: at the top of the show and getting the mail

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Speaker 1: to the right people, as well as the much sadder

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Speaker 1: task of returning packages to the sender when the person

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Speaker 1: who was supposed to receive them had been killed. Beyond

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Speaker 1: just the task of sorting the mail, life in Birmingham

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00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 1: had some challenges for the Six Triple Eight. Locals probably

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Speaker 1: would have been curious about any U. S. Army activity

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Speaker 1: at the warehouse, but when it came to the sudden

401
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Speaker 1: presence of more than eight hundred black women, first, there

402
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Speaker 1: was a lot of gawking. The Six Triple eight was

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Speaker 1: also the largest unit in the area, so when there

404
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Speaker 1: was some kind of function that required an Army officer's presence,

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Speaker 1: Major Adams was usually the one to go. People were

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Speaker 1: often shocked when the office or who arrived at an

407
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Speaker 1: official function was a black woman. The six Triple Eate

408
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Speaker 1: also faced discrimination and some of the amenities that were

409
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Speaker 1: available to other members of the service. The American Red

410
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Speaker 1: Cross was running a club for enlisted personnel that had

411
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Speaker 1: allowed white women and men of any race, but then decided,

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Speaker 1: without really offering an explanation, that the Six Triple Eates

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Speaker 1: enlisted members would not be admitted there. The Red Cross

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Speaker 1: offered to establish a separate club just for the six

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Speaker 1: Triple Eate, but Major Adams refused, saying that she wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have her battalion moving into the segregated facility. A similar

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Speaker 1: incident followed with a Red Cross hotel in London for

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Speaker 1: wax that the Six Triple eight had been allowed to

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Speaker 1: use when they were there on official or personal business. Again,

420
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Speaker 1: without really giving much of an explanation, the Red Cross

421
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Speaker 1: decided that the six Triple eight would just be quote

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Speaker 1: happier somewhere else, and started setting up a separate facility.

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Speaker 1: Adams again refused, and when she let the six Triple

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Speaker 1: Eate know that they would need to find other accommodations

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Speaker 1: when they went to London. Overall they backed her up

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Speaker 1: on it. Yeah, she uh. When she was talking to

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Speaker 1: the Red Cross people about this, she was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we've been sharing this hotel. There have been no problems.

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Speaker 1: None of my people have complained. It seems like maybe

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Speaker 1: some other people have complained, and if they have, they

431
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 1: are maybe the people that should go to some separate facility. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: none of it was a good situation. There were also

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Speaker 1: some disagreements with higher ups. Even though the six Triple

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Speaker 1: eight was well ahead of schedule and they finished processing

435
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 1: this big backlog and half the expected time, they were

436
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 1: still criticized for being inefficient, something that was probably more

437
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 1: about racial bias than their actual performance. There's definitely not

438
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 1: another explanation that's readily there for that. No, you performed high,

439
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 1: above exceeding all expectations. So lazy, I know, I can't

440
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 1: mention another reason for it. Major Adams in particular, also

441
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:00,080
Speaker 1: had to run in with a general who came for

442
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,919
Speaker 1: an inspection. According to her memoir, Adams had been ordered

443
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 1: to maintain business as usual during that inspection, but when

444
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,479
Speaker 1: the General inspected her troops, he reprimanded her for not

445
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 1: having all of them present. When she explained that some

446
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 1: were sleeping and others were working, and that she was

447
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 1: following orders by keeping them on their set schedule, he

448
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 1: said that he would bring a white first lieutenant to

449
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:25,639
Speaker 1: take command. Major Adams's response, in the heat of the moment,

450
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: was over my dead body, sir. This was, of course,

451
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: not an acceptable thing for any officer to say to

452
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: their superior and so after the General left, Adams and

453
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: some of her officers had to put their heads together

454
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: to figure out how she might be able to defend

455
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 1: herself and what seemed like an inevitable court martial. The

456
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,359
Speaker 1: strategy they decided on was to lean on some memos

457
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 1: that had advised officers that were affiliated with the U.

458
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 1: S Military not to use language that emphasized racial segregation

459
00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: out of the risk of alienating their allies in Europe.

460
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,479
Speaker 1: Adams was prepared to make the argument that what the

461
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 1: General said had done exactly that, but then the charges

462
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 1: against her were dropped on the grounds that it would

463
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,399
Speaker 1: be too expensive to replace her because she was the

464
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 1: wax highest ranking black officer. I just want to point out,

465
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,640
Speaker 1: she said Sir at the end, so by my estimation,

466
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 1: that was very polite, and in some retellings of this

467
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 1: she said, Sir at both ends, super polite, better than

468
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 1: I would have done. Once the Birmingham backlog was clear,

469
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 1: the six Triple Eight was moved to Rouen, France in

470
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 1: the Normandy region on June to do the same job there.

471
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: Of course, that was a month after v E Day,

472
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: so a lot of U S troops were headed back home.

473
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: A lot of supplies were as well. The Six Triple

474
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,840
Speaker 1: Eates beds could not be found and they had to

475
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 1: cobble together bunk setups with boards and canvas cots. The

476
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: Six Triple Eate had a lot more visitors in Ruin

477
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,679
Speaker 1: than they had had back in England. A lot of

478
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,639
Speaker 1: troops headed back home were being routed through the area,

479
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: so the Six Triple Eight had a steady stream of

480
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,920
Speaker 1: male relatives and boyfriends and fiance's passing through, plus some

481
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,520
Speaker 1: servicemen who didn't know anybody there but wanted to socialize.

482
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,680
Speaker 1: This ultimately led to several weddings, either between sweethearts from

483
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 1: back home who were reunited after the war here or

484
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: relationships that developed while both parties were in Europe. There

485
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: were some downsides to all of these reunions, though so

486
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,479
Speaker 1: many male visitors were coming through that Adams finally banned

487
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 1: men from the facility every Monday, so the women of

488
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 1: the six Triple Eate had time to do things like

489
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: launder and air dry their delicates in relative privacy. Occasionally

490
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: things got out of hand with some of the men,

491
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: and the six Triple eight asked for its MPs to

492
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: be issued firearms. When that request was refused, they just

493
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 1: studied jiu jitsu instead. This wasn't the only way that

494
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,639
Speaker 1: life for the six Triple eight was different in Ruhan

495
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 1: than it had been in Birmingham. For a while, they

496
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: had exceptionally good meals because a core er master assumed

497
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 1: that a unit that had so many women and in

498
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 1: it had to be a hospital, so they were being

499
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: sent the hospital rations, which were much nicer. Once that

500
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 1: error was discovered and they went back to their regular rations,

501
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: they started bartering damaged goods that came through, like cigarettes

502
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: and soap with the locals to increase their access to

503
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:24,360
Speaker 1: fresher foods. They also increasingly worked with civilians and sometimes

504
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: prisoners of war. As members of the Six Triple Eight

505
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 1: became eligible to go home, they had more opportunities for

506
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 1: recreation in Rouen as well, including participating in sports and

507
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: athletic tournaments. They still didn't have equal access because of

508
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: their race, though. Several members of the Six Triple Eight

509
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: were selected for an Army All Star team, but their

510
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 1: invitations were rescinded when the organizers realized they were black.

511
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 1: The battalions basketball team was also denied boarding a train

512
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: for a basketball tournament, at which point Lieutenant General Lee

513
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: had the train held until his personal first class car

514
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 1: could be connected for them to use, and they held

515
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: another parade in Rulan. This one honored Joan of Arc

516
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: and passed through the square where she had been burned

517
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: at the stake. It was in Ruhal that the Six

518
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: Triple Eight had its biggest tragedy. Three women were in

519
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: a GEP accident on July. Private Mary Jay Barlow and

520
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: Private Mary H. Bankston were killed, and Sergeant Dolores M.

521
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: Brown died five days later as a result of her injuries.

522
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: Major Adams notified their families and women of the Six

523
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 1: Triple Eight who had mortuary experience prepared their bodies for burial.

524
00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: They held two services, since two of the women had

525
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: been Protestant and the other was Catholic. All three were

526
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 1: buried at Normandy American Cemetery in Ruan. Once again, the

527
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: six Triple Eight dealt with another projected six month mail

528
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,280
Speaker 1: backlog and half the estimated time, and then after that

529
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: the remaining women were sent to Paris to deal with

530
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 1: one last backlog. They arrived there in October of nineteen five.

531
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: This time they were housed in hotels where they had

532
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: housekeeping and meal service. By this point, about three hundred

533
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: members of the Six Triplate had gone home and two

534
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 1: hundred more were eligible to so Even though there were

535
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 1: far fewer Americans in Europe, for the people who were

536
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: still there, their workloads were actually higher. Another issue in

537
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: these last months of their assignment was theft of the

538
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: mail that they were trying to sort. Many of the

539
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 1: people living in the area where they were working had

540
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: faced all kinds of shortages during the war, and they

541
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: still didn't have basic necessities, so the remaining members of

542
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: the Six Triple Eight had to add tracking down Pilford

543
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 1: packages to their duties. In February of six with the

544
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,239
Speaker 1: war over and the backlogs handled. The six Triple Eate

545
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: was disbanded and any members who were still in Europe

546
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,239
Speaker 1: were sent home. Before departing for home, Adams also ran

547
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 1: into that general who had tried to court martial her

548
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: over telling him over my dead body back in Birmingham.

549
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: According to Adam's memoir, that actually crossed paths a couple

550
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: of times since then, and on his way to the

551
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: Act to the United States, he told her that she

552
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,480
Speaker 1: had outsmarted him and that he was proud to know her,

553
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: and also that he wouldn't be telling her any of

554
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: this if he thought he would ever see her again.

555
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: Adams was the most senior female officer on the troop

556
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: transport ship that she took back to the US, which

557
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: meant that she was in command of all of the

558
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,760
Speaker 1: women on board. A group of white nurses objected to this,

559
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 1: saying that they had their own white major, who they

560
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:27,040
Speaker 1: argued should be in charge. Adams explained to them that

561
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 1: she would not be leaving the ship, but that if

562
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 1: it was so important to them to be under the

563
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: command of a white officer, they were welcome to disembark

564
00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 1: and go home. Later. They elected not to do so

565
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 1: after the war, many of the Six Triple Eight used

566
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: the g I Bill to go to college or graduate school,

567
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 1: and this included Major Adams, who was promoted to lieutenant

568
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: colonel before leaving the service. That was the highest rank

569
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 1: that it was possible for her to attain in the

570
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 1: Women's Army Corps. She also got married on August, becoming

571
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: Charity Edna Adams. Early during their time in Your Up,

572
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 1: the Six Triple Eight had broken records for processing mail

573
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 1: in spite of the early criticisms of their alleged inefficiency.

574
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: In the end, they were highly praised for their work,

575
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 1: but they returned home with no recognition or fanfare. That

576
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,920
Speaker 1: didn't really start to change until one when several members

577
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,600
Speaker 1: went back to Birmingham, England to be recognized. A memorial

578
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 1: was held at Arlington National Cemetery in February of two

579
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: thousand nine, but by then the organizers were only able

580
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 1: to contact three surviving members to attend. In March of

581
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: the U. S. Army Women's Foundation inducted the Six Triple

582
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: Eight into its Hall of Fame, and in ten the U. S.

583
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,120
Speaker 1: Senate passed Resolution four twelve quote expressing the sense of

584
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 1: the Senate regarding the six thousand eight Central Postal Directory

585
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 1: Battalion and celebrating Black History Month. It was introduced in

586
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 1: February and pass in October. On November of that year,

587
00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 1: the six thousand eight Central Postal Directory Battalion Monument at

588
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was

589
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 1: dedicated Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams. Early died on January two

590
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: thousand two at the age of eighties three. Before her death,

591
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: she wrote a memoir called One Woman's Army, and it

592
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: has a lot more detail about the Women's Army Auxiliary

593
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: Corps and the Women's Army Corps in general, and the

594
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 1: six Triple Eight specifically, and it is well worth checking out.

595
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 1: In this memoir, she wrote quote, I was very proud

596
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,200
Speaker 1: of the six Triple Eight. My personal pride was because

597
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: I was the commanding officer of this terrific outfit. There

598
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 1: were many women in the corps who could have been

599
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 1: the CEO, but I was the fortunate one to hold

600
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 1: the position. My feeling of personal achievement was only a

601
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: minute part of my pride in the unit. The women

602
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,959
Speaker 1: of the six Triple Eight had ventured into a service

603
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,840
Speaker 1: area where they were not really wanted. They had assumed

604
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,240
Speaker 1: jobs that had normally been assigned to men. They had

605
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 1: been and were performing in a valiant and praiseworthy manner.

606
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 1: They had survived racial prejudice and discrimination with dignity. I

607
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: really love them. Yeah, it's such a great story. Um,

608
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,840
Speaker 1: do you have a little bit of listener mail to

609
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 1: finish off with? I do. It is from Aaron, and

610
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: as far as I know, it is from a different

611
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 1: Errand than the one who requested this topic today. And

612
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: Aaron says, Hello, Holly and Tracy. I love listening to

613
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 1: you guys. I just listened to your Alexandre Dumont episodes.

614
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,520
Speaker 1: I hope your itinerary in France will bring you to

615
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 1: mal Manches Cemetery. It's one of my favorite memories in

616
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: Paris and there are many famous people buried there. You

617
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,920
Speaker 1: can even see a Duma, son of the one buried

618
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: at the Pantheon. My other incredible experience was going for

619
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,680
Speaker 1: a concert at sunset at San Chapelle. I would tell

620
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 1: anyone going to Paris, if you get the chance to

621
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,320
Speaker 1: do this, don't miss it. So much of sightseeing is

622
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,720
Speaker 1: among milling crowds, with so many distractions and cramped for time.

623
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,840
Speaker 1: This is a fairly small concert for which they limit

624
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 1: the number of people, and you get to experience the

625
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: cathedral in such a magical way listening to the music

626
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 1: in those acoustic because with all that time to just

627
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 1: drink in the glow of the sun through stained glass. Anyway,

628
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: I know you guys probably have a full schedule and

629
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:08,759
Speaker 1: lots of people weighing in on what to do, but

630
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 1: I think you would really enjoy those experiences, so I

631
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 1: thought i'd share. Thank you for all you do, Aaron.

632
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,480
Speaker 1: Thank you Aaron for this email. I wanted to read

633
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,800
Speaker 1: it not just because it's about Paris, but also because

634
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,520
Speaker 1: we did not really talk much at all about Alexander

635
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: duma Feasts in those two episodes about the father and

636
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 1: Son Duma Hair. We may at some point return to

637
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: him to talk about him more, because he has his

638
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 1: own fascinating life story, including the fact that his his

639
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 1: father had like the French law on his side in

640
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: terms of who got custody of him when he was little. Like,

641
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 1: there's a whole lot to talk about there that we

642
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: may return to at some point in the future. So

643
00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 1: it gives me a chance to kind of nod to

644
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 1: it today, So thank you Aaron for this note and

645
00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: also for the beautiful picture that was attached to it.

646
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,280
Speaker 1: Uh that has the picture of his two of Alexander

647
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 1: Duma feast tomb in the cemetery, which is very striking

648
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 1: and it is not very far from where we are

649
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 1: actually staying, so we could hope it over there, no problem.

650
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, uh, not not far at all. So if

651
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,000
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