BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Western New York woman, who took part in a unique World War II mission to help keep up the spirits of troops and others serving in Europe, is now the subject of an appropriate tribute in Buffalo.
2 On Your Side learned about the service of Indiana Hunt-Martin and her unit's assignment of getting out the mail to those who really needed it.
Nowadays we may take mail delivery for granted. But back in World War II and the 1940s it was crucial to the morale of the men and women on the front lines who were overseas. And that's why we learned more about this special lady who was a member of this Women's Army Corps unit in World War II.
Her name was Indiana Hunt-Martin. Her unit as a Private in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps or WACS was the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion. They were the first African American Women's unit sent to Europe and they actually processed and routed the mail to an estimated seven million American soldiers and sailors and other personnel serving in Europe and World War Two.
Her daughter Janice Martin recognizes it was not an easy time for young Black women with discrimination and harassment.
"That's what she said. She wanted to do what she could to help the war effort. So that's why they all joined. Plus they all wanted to make sure that everyone understood that they loved this country just like everyone else."
Janice Martin says she recently visited Scotland, England, and the exact, still standing building in France where her mother and the other WACS processed the mail.
"They didn't feel their service was really an important job. They just knew they had two years of backed-up mail that they had to go through and when they arrived it was like ten airplane hangars full of mail."
Hunt credits the unit's female commanding office with coming up with a system to do the work.
"Everything was precision and they knocked off all that mail in three months."
Despite her later work with the State Labor Department, Hunt-Martin, until her death at age 98 in 2020, often stopped by the Central Park Post Office branch on Manhattan Avenue in Buffalo. It is now named in her honor as a fitting tribute. Just as her wartime mail unit is now featured in a Netflix movie and a Broadway play.
Hunt said that her Mom was inseparable.