It’s a story of heroism!
Tyler Perry is writing and directing the story of the 688th Battalion, the largest, all-Black, all-women battalion to serve in World War II, Shadow And Act reports. Nicknamed the Six Triple Eight, the women were deployed from February 1945 to January 1946, tasked with processing millions of pieces of undelivered mail.
The film is based on the article written about the women by Kevin M. Hymel for WWII History Magazine. Their story went untold for 75 years, President Joe Biden officially granting the women Congressional Gold Medals last year. The women faced racism and imminent threats from German armies to clear more than 17 million pieces of mail in half the time expected. The women saw the backlog of mail as not just a clerical issue but a real impact on the troops morale, taking their job very seriously.
Perry is set to tell the heroic story of the 855 Black women whose contributions were almost forgotten. The film will be produced by Tyler Perry Studios alongside Nicole Avant’s Excellency Productions, and Intuition Production’s Keri Selig and Carlotta Espinosa.
This is Perry’s fourth film under his partnership deal with Netflix. He is also working on Sister Act 3 with Whoopi Goldberg set to reprise her role as Sister Mary Clarence.
Cover photo: Tyler Perry set to direct Netflix film about largest all-Black women WWII Battalion/688th Battalion take part in May 1945 parade in honor of Joan d’Arc/Photo Courtesy of The National Archives/History.com