Villagers for Veterans, in partnership with the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, hosted the special screening. Marie Bogdonoff, founder and president of Villagers for Veterans, said the goal of showing the movie was to honor the courage, service and sisterhood of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The battalion was the first and only predominantly Black and all-woman unit in the Women’s Army Corps to be deployed during World War II.
Members of the unit were tasked with sorting a backlog of 17 million pieces of undelivered mail to 7 million servicemen. The unit cleared the backlog in three months, three months sooner than what was expected.
Knowledge of the previously little-known story spread like wildfire following the 2024 release of the film by Tyler Perry.
The lobby of the Old Mill Playhouse included a display featuring information on the 23 Florida servicewomen who were among the 855 women in the 6888th.
Vanessa Thomas, Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs state women veterans coordinator, was motivated to research the 23 women and put together the display after watching the film.
“These are the hidden heroes,” she said. “When I saw the movie, I asked myself, ‘Where are the women from Florida?’ and I wanted to honor them. It’s important to make sure people know about these women who have serviced our nation.”
Bogdonoff said the screening was held in conjunction with the Villagers for Veterans 12th annual Orchid Gala, which honors the contributions of women veterans and was held Oct. 3 at Savannah Center.
“We always host the gala on Saturday and we always invite the women from out of the area to come participate in activities throughout the weekend,” said Bogdonoff, of the Village of Pine Ridge. “So, we thought it would be an appropriate time to show the movie to everyone and bring awareness to the general community that this happened.”
Bogdonoff, who served in the Women’s Army Corps from 1969 to 1980, said before she got involved with veterans, she knew very little about their experiences.
Now, through Villagers for Veterans, Bogdonoff works to educate the community and bring awareness about the sacrifice and experience of veterans.
“It wasn’t that I was stupid or anything like that. I was just not aware,” she said. “Because the veteran community is a tight community, they can usually talk about and around themselves, but they don’t share it beyond that. Most people, unless they have a family member or loved one who serves, don’t really follow the challenges closely. I feel that had I known when I was younger, I would’ve been able to support so much more.”
Bogdonoff said not a lot of people understand the role of women in the military.
“A lot of people think women veterans were either all nurses or secretaries, or things like that,” she said. “What they don’t realize is that women have held very important roles in many different capacities. Movie screenings are a way to let people know who these women were and that women veterans are involved in so much more and sometimes a very dangerous situation.”
Dr. Carrie Dixon, a member of the Tri-County Women Veterans Club who served as a registered nurse in the Navy from 1976 to 1978, said women who served in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion didn’t get the recognition they deserved partially due to their gender.
“I feel they didn’t get recognition just because they are Black, but also because they were women,” said the Village of DeLuna resident. “But when you consider the amount of morale they brought to troops who hadn’t heard from their loved ones in over a year, that alone deserves national recognition. Now that the story is known, Black veterans take pride in the story, but any American should. Every individual living in the United States needs to know this history, whether you are a veteran or not.”
For more information about events hosted by Villagers for Veterans, visit villagersforveterans.org.
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
