Updates from the Veterans History Project: In Memoriam: Alice Lillian Dixon, nee Ellis, Our Nation’s Oldest Female Veteran

In Memoriam: Alice Lillian Dixon, nee Ellis, Our Nation’s Oldest Female Veteran

On Wednesday evening, the United States lost Alice Lillian Dixon, nee Ellis, its oldest living female veteran. Dixon, one of the first African-American women to join the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), served in the European Theater of Operations. Attached to the 6888^th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a segregated unit comprised entirely of African-American women, her efforts ensured a line of communication – the excitement of “Mail Call!” – for the 7 million GIs serving in Europe.

 

Fortunately, the Library of Congress, only a few miles away from Alice Dixon’s home at the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, preserves and makes accessible an oral history of her wartime contributions. Hear her story, in her own words: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.05202

 

Hear directly from Dixon’s comrade, Violet Hill Askins Gordon:

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00146/

 

Learn more about the 6888^th Central Postal Directory Battalion at the U.S. Postal Museum:

http://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanhistory/p7.html

 

The Mission of the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center is to collect, preserve and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. Learn more at www.loc.gov/vets. Share your exciting VHP initiatives, programs, events, and news stories with VHP to be considered for a future RSS. Email vohp@loc.gov and place “My VHP RSS Story” in the subject line.