CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The National Association of Black Military Women is committed to telling “HERstory.”
“We only have one simple mission — that is to tell the story and history of Black military women,” said Retired Col. Kathaleen Harris, a longtime member and former president of the National Association of Black Military Women (NABMW).
While Harris was stationed at the Pentagon in 1994, she recalled meeting World War II veteran Gladys Schuster Carter during a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and Women Army Corp. (WAC) and Women in the Service (WIC) reunion in San Antonio TX.
“I’d never heard of Black women serving in World War II,” Harris said. “I did not know my history. I had served for almost 20 years and all of a sudden, I met all of these WWII ladies. It was about 60-women there. Mrs. Carter told us ‘nobody knows about us.’ I said, ‘You’re right. I don’t know about you and I’m walking the halls of the Pentagon.’ [At the time], I am a senior major and I know nothing about Black Military Women’s history.”
From that moment on, Harris worked with Gladys Schuster Carter to fulfill a mission to tell HERstory. Schuster Carter helped create a chapter of NABMW in Chesapeake.
The Hampton Roads area is well known for its military presence, with several military installations and thousands of service members.
“We call her the mother of NABMW,” Harris said. “She was the one to call these ladies up and get them to sit down to talk about their military experience.”
For years, Schuster Carter did not discuss her military life and experiences with her family.
“I don’t remember her saying anything about the military until she started the National Association of Black Military Women,” said Oscar Carter III, her eldest son.
As the now-77-year-old learns more about his mother’s WWII experience, “I’m becoming more and more proud as I learn more.”
Gladys Schuster Carter was among the 850 Black and Brown women in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
“The fact that this Black unit was the only unit responsible for the military get their mail, that’s a big deal,” said Oscar Carter III. “When I was in the Army, I was really happy hearing from my fiancée at the time, and getting mail when I was in Vietnam was very inspiring. [It was] motivation and a ‘pick you up,’ something you look forward to every day. That meant a lot to the soldiers there.”
A Tyler Perry movie that highlights the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion is scheduled to be available later in 2024.
Leslie Carter, her granddaughter, recalled spending hours on the phone with her beloved grandmother. During those phone calls, she learned Gladys met her husband, Oscar Jr., at Virginia State University. The couple left college early in 1943 to volunteer to fight in WWII.
“She did feel like it was her duty to go to the Army,” Leslie Carter said. “She did what she had to do. She spent the second half of her life … to have the women who served recognized and counted at a national level, and probably globally, knowing my grandmother.”
Her family is proud of the many contributions she made for the community and the country before she died in 2009.
“She was very passionate about Black history,” her son said. “She was very passionate about the contributions Black people have made, not only in the military but in this country.”
To join NABMW, complete the membership application at https://www.nabmw.org/membership.