A LIFELINE TO THE FRONTLINE: TEC5 Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) of Fort Worth, Texas and the Story of the 6888th in World War II

A LIFELINE TO THE FRONTLINE:  TEC5 Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) of Fort Worth, Texas and the Story of the 6888th in World War II. 

The Only Congressional Gold Medal Recipient Resting at Historic New Trinity Cemetery (https://libraries.uta.edu/news/honoring-local-6888th-battalion-members).

A Technician. A Trailblazer. A Woman Who Delivered 17 Million Messages of Hope in Just Three Months.

By Black Texans Inc.

HALTOM CITY, TEXAS - In the bitter cold of wartime Europe—inside dim, unheated warehouses where dust hung heavy and morale ran thin—hope did not arrive with fanfare.

It arrived quietly.

Folded.

Stamped.

Sealed in envelopes.

At the heart of that miracle stood women like Technician Fifth Grade (TEC5) Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) of Fort Worth, Texas—a soldier of precision and purpose, and a member of the legendary 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black, all-female unit deployed overseas during World War II.

Today, she is remembered not only for what she did in war, but for where she rests in peace: Historic New Trinity Cemetery, sacred Fort Worth ground that holds the legacy of Black America’s service, sacrifice, and survival. Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) is the only Congressional Gold Medal recipient interred there—a singular honor rooted in collective excellence.

Between 1945 and 1946, the 6888th accomplished what many believed impossible. In just three months, they processed more than 17 million pieces of undelivered mail—letters that had sat for years, separating soldiers from their families, their faith, and their reasons to keep going.

Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) was not simply assigned to that mission.

She was indispensable to it.

A Rank That Meant Mastery

The rank of Technician Fifth Grade (TEC5) was created by the U.S. Army to recognize soldiers whose technical and clerical expertise was too vital to divert into traditional command roles. These were specialists entrusted with work where precision was paramount and mistakes carried human consequences.

For TEC5 Cole (Rawls), the rank spoke volumes.

What a TEC5 Represented

• Pay Grade: Equivalent to Corporal (E-4)

• Authority: Technical authority within a specialized field, not positional command

• Insignia: One chevron bearing a “T” beneath it

• Purpose: To keep the Army’s most skilled professionals focused exactly where they were needed most

In a global war where morale could determine survival, mail was not a luxury—it was a lifeline. Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) was trusted to protect that lifeline.

Inside the Miracle of the 6888th

As a TEC5 in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, Cole (Rawls) carried responsibilities that demanded intellect, stamina, and absolute accuracy.

Precision Postal Operations

• Processing massive volumes of undelivered wartime mail

• Sorting letters with missing, damaged, or incorrect information

• Cross-referencing names, service numbers, and constantly changing unit locations

Records & Clerical Expertise

• Maintaining accurate service-member files

• Operating vast card-index systems—millions of cards, no computers

• Correcting clerical errors that kept letters from reaching the front lines

Problem-Solving Under Fire

• Tackling a three-year backlog that had stalled morale across entire theaters

• Working 16–24 hour shifts in grueling, unheated conditions

• Meeting impossible deadlines where failure meant silence for soldiers in combat

Technical Leadership

• Training and guiding lower-ranked soldiers

• Serving as a trusted specialist relied upon by commanding officers

• Ensuring accuracy—because one mistake could cost months of connection

Major Charity Adams: Leadership Under Pressure

Commanding this unprecedented mission was Major Charity Adams, the first Black woman commissioned as an officer in the Women’s Army Corps and the commanding officer of the 6888th.

Facing discrimination, substandard facilities, and overt attempts to undermine her authority, Major Adams stood firm—demanding discipline, dignity, and excellence. When efforts were made to replace her with a white officer, she refused to step aside, declaring in effect, “Over my dead body.”

Under her command, the battalion lived by a relentless truth:

“No mail, low morale.”

Her leadership transformed chaos into order and doubt into delivery—creating the conditions in which soldiers like Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) could excel.

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune and the Power Behind the Mission

The 6888th did not deploy overseas by chance. Their presence was the result of determined advocacy by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune—educator, presidential advisor, and founder of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW).

As a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet,” Bethune pressed the federal government to:

• Open meaningful military roles for Black women

• Recognize their administrative, logistical, and leadership capabilities

• Deploy them overseas where their talents were desperately needed

Through the NCNW, Bethune and a coalition of Black women organized, advocated, and applied moral pressure to challenge segregationist thinking. Their efforts directly shaped the creation, deployment, and eventual recognition of the 6888th.

Without Bethune’s vision—and the collective force of Black women’s advocacy—the battalion’s lifeline mission might never have crossed the Atlantic.

More Than Mail — Hope in an Envelope

Holding the rank of TEC5 meant Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) was not assisting.

She was holding the line.

Her work:

• Restored morale across entire theaters of war

• Proved Black women’s excellence under the harshest wartime conditions

• Accelerated victory on the homefront of the heart, reconnecting soldiers to family, faith, and future

Every envelope delivered carried the same message:

You are not forgotten.

Historic New Trinity Cemetery: Where Soldiers Still Stand Strong

Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) now rests at Historic New Trinity Cemetery, one of Fort Worth’s most sacred and significant African American burial grounds. Envisioned in 1886, New Trinity marks 140 years of Black life, labor, faith, leadership, and freedom—its soil consecrated by generations of formerly enslaved people who fought for a country that too often failed to fight for them.

More than 500 Buffalo Soldiers veterans are buried at New Trinity, making it one of the most important resting places for Black military service in Texas. Enacted by Congress in 1866, the Buffalo Soldiers represent America’s first peacetime Black professional military force. As the nation approaches their 160th Anniversary (1866–2026), their presence at New Trinity anchors Reconstruction-era sacrifice to modern freedom struggles.

Among them lies Private Arthur Williams, a story as sobering as it is extraordinary.

Born in 1905, PVT Williams entered military service in 1917 at just 12 years old, making him one of the youngest known soldiers to serve in World War I. At an age when most children were still learning to read, Williams answered a nation’s call—his youth surrendered to war, his courage etched into history before his voice could fully mature.

His grave, like so many at New Trinity, testifies that Black service has always come at a cost measured not only in years, but in childhoods, families, and futures surrendered too soon.

That TEC5 Florence Marie Cole (Rawls)—a World War II heroine of logistics and love—rests among these Buffalo Soldiers creates a sacred continuity of service. From a 12-year-old World War I private, to Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, to the women of the 6888th, New Trinity tells a single, unbroken story:

Black Americans have always answered the call.

As the nation commemorates the United States Semiquincentennial (250 years), New Trinity’s 140th Anniversary and the 160th Anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers stand as parallel witnesses—proof that Black Texans were not peripheral to America’s defense, but pivotal to its endurance.

The cemetery is not merely a resting place.

It is a living archive.

A sacred formation where headstones still stand at attention.

That the only Congressional Gold Medal recipient buried at New Trinity is a woman of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion ties Fort Worth’s local history to global consequence—connecting frontier soldiers, child-warriors, postal technicians, and freedom fighters across generations in one sacred place.

From Forgotten Warehouses to National Honor

Decades after the war ended, the nation finally honored what history long ignored. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.

And at Historic New Trinity Cemetery—among ancestors who labored, fought, taught, and prayed freedom into existence—one of those heroes rests:

TEC5 Florence Marie Cole (Rawls)

A woman whose quiet precision moved millions—and whose legacy still delivers hope.

Black Texans Inc. Honors the Legacy

This cover story is part of Black Texans Inc.’s ongoing commitment to unearth, preserve, and proclaim the stories of Black excellence rooted in Texas soil. As America marks 250 years, the Buffalo Soldiers mark 160, and New Trinity marks 140, these truths demand to be told.

Florence Marie Cole (Rawls) did not carry a rifle.

She carried hope—one envelope at a time.

Hope in an Envelope.

Dignity in Duty.

History Delivered.