EAST ORANGE, NJ — Davis Street is now Gladys Eva Blount Way, named for East Orange’s own Gladys E. Blount, a World War II veteran as the member of an exclusive Women’s Army Corps unit. Though Blount, who is now 100, was unable to travel back to East Orange from her current home in Ruskin, Fla., she watched the Oct. 19 ceremony remotely; the event was attended by town leaders, many of Blount’s family members and approximately 60 fifth-graders from Mildred Barry Garvin School.
“I am honored to be standing here on Davis Street in honor of a lady who really doesn’t need an introduction,” Mayor Ted R. Green said at the ceremony, recalling his visit to Blount in Florida on July 26 to present her with a proclamation from the city. “I read about her contributions to this world and the other women that served in this battalion. I didn’t only want to present a proclamation, I want to be a part of history. So what I did, I told my staff, ‘Look, we’re not only going to send this proclamation, we are going down to Ruskin, Fla.’ When we went, I have to be honest, it was probably one of the best times I’ve had in my life to meet this woman.”
Blount was one of 855 women who were selected from more than 6,000 African American women serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II to become part of the exclusive all-black, all-female 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The 6888th battalion unit, nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight,” historically completed the massive undertaking while stationed in Europe in 1945 of clearing a six-month backlog of letters and packages — millions of pieces of mail — in just three months. Adhering to their motto, “No Mail, Low Morale,” these women provided essential support during the war by linking soldiers to their loved ones back home. These women tracked and rerouted mail, averaging 65,000 pieces per shift and a total of more than 17 million by their assignment’s end.
In recent years, the history of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion has been explored and celebrated in written accounts, documentaries, museum exhibits and public ceremonies, including in 2022 when the Six Triple Eight was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal — the nation’s highest award for distinguished achievements — by President Joe Biden.
Of the 855 women who served in the Six Triple Eight, only six — including Blount — are still alive today.
“As we sit and stand here today, we know that, here in the city of East Orange, we had someone who made history,” Green said, adding that he was pleased local students had attended the street renaming. “They should know that these shoulders are the ones they stand on to be here today. And, as we do this street naming, we are so proud of this family.”
Councilman Mustafa Al-M. Brent celebrated Blount for her bravery, compassion and patriotism “when she stood up with her battalion members and said, definitely with her life and with her actions and with her speech, ‘We are going to stand up and help our Jewish brothers and sisters that are being oppressed and recognize the necessity of sacrifice, the necessity for dedication and the necessity of paying the ultimate price.’
“I want our young people to recognize not just the importance, but the necessity, the emphatic implications of this street naming. Long before there was a parkway, long before there was a 280, Miss Gladys existed in this community in a time where people that looked like her were not really necessarily welcome here. It was not the environment and the community that you see today. And so it is our duty to recognize her, to raise her name up, to raise up her actions and her sacrifice, and her legacy within our community, so that this generation and future generations can recognize and understand” what she did, Brent continued. “We talk about her legacy of service in World War II and her reaching 100. Those are milestones, those are important mentions, but we don’t talk about the thousands and millions of lives that she touched exponentially between those two points, and how future generations are alive and benefit from her contributions.”
In addition to Blount being feted by her four great-granddaughters at the event, her grandson, Willie Davis IV, spoke about his love for his grandmother and for East Orange. He said that he is still learning about his grandmother’s service from approximately 80 years ago.
“That was a long time ago, and to see her being recognized later may have been a long time coming, but it is right on time. She is so elated and so happy about it. She wishes she could be here, but she’s watching,” Davis said. “So, how did she even decide to join the military? She got bored here in East Orange, and she asked, ‘What can I do?’ She was a hairdresser at the time and she wanted to do something to find some good men. All the good men were gone in the war, so her sister told her, ‘Why don’t you join the Army?’ and that’s what she did.”
Davis praised the women of the Six Triple Eight and the impressive work they did.
“They were a whole battalion, like a little mini internet, getting that information, getting it in and getting it out, so that’s a beautiful thing. And, like the mayor said, like the councilman said, this is history. She’s a historical figure,” Davis said, talking about how caring his grandmother is. “I look up to her, and I’m learning so much about her.
“Gram, we love you. This is for you,” he continued, “ and East Orange loves you, too.”
Blount’s daughter, Eva Davis, also spoke at the event about how grateful she is to her community here in East Orange for taking the time and care to honor her mother.
“I just want to thank everybody for coming out. I didn’t know what to expect, but this is going beyond what I expected, and I want to thank Ted Greed for his graciousness,” she said, recounting Green’s visit to her mother in Florida this past summer. “One other thing I just want to recognize is that it’s five generations in East Orange. It started with my mother’s father, my mother, and then me, and then Willie and my grandchildren, so we love East Orange.”
Photos Courtesy of East Orange City Hall
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