SANFORD, Fla. — Ingrid Nathan just recently discovered the legacy that her trailblazing mother left behind, nearly seven decades after her death.  

While she knew her mother, Edna Cross Burton, had served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), it was only this past Christmas she discovered that her mother helped make history by serving as a member of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.

The battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight,” was the only all-black female unit to be deployed overseas during W.W. II.

According to the Army Women’s Foundation, a total of 855 women of color were responsible for labeling, sorting and clearing an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift for millions of American service members and civilians.

Millions of pieces of mail had been stockpiled and stored away into warehouses for extended periods of time, leading to a backlog of undelivered mail.

For the first time, Nathan will get to honor her mother and the hundreds of other brave women who served on the 6888th Battalion at the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony in Washington D.C.

Walking through the doors of the Sunrise Funeral Home in Sanford brings Nathan back to when she was just a little girl.

“This was just a playground for us,” Nathan said as she played the piano in what was formerly known as the Burton’s Funeral Home that her parents used to run when she was a child.

Not only did she learn how to walk and play the piano there, but the funeral home is where she spent the most time with her mother, prior to her passing, when Nathan was only 5 years old. Her mother died in 1956 at the age of 44.

“Nobody thought about historically her mom died when she was 5, so let’s give her this information about her mother. Ok? No one thought about that and so there was no one around. People were around who could’ve told me things, but they didn’t,” Nathan said.

To this day, Nathan is still patching up the pieces of her mother’s life.

But it wasn’t until this past Christmas that she learned who her mother truly was, after watching Tyler Perry’s movie “The Six Triple Eight” depicting the story of an 855-member unit consisting of all-black women that were deployed to Europe during W.W. II.

The women were deployed from 1945 to 1946 to help sort and route the backlog of mail.

“In my heart, she made a difference. She was black history. She was civil rights before the civil rights movement,” Nathan said.

When she saw her mother’s name appear in the credits of the movie, Nathan was floored.

She said it made her feel even closer to her mother, despite only knowing her for five years.

“I never knew her. I never knew her but look at what she did. She did so much before I was born,” Nathan said.

At a time when it felt impossible to do so.

An act of bravery that Nathan confidently says helped shape her into the woman that she is today.

“Mom was a 6-triple 8. She went in there, and they were, you know, a lot of these women — they didn’t say anything about it when they got back. They just did what they had to do. They just did their job, and that’s how I was when I integrated schools,” Nathan explained, who was the first Black student to integrate Seminole County Public Schools in 1964.  

She is forever proud to be known as Edna Cross Burton’s daughter. 

“They were well-disciplined, well-groomed, they looked great! And my mom was one of them,” Nathan said as she looked through old photographs of her mother.

Today, only part of Edna Cross Burton remains at the Page Jackson Cemetery in Sanford. 

Nathan said that in the 1990s, her mother’s grave was desecrated by a group of students at a neighboring school from where she was buried.

To this day, she is still seeking answers as to who was responsible. Nathan said she is working to restore what was lost with the help of family.

But until then, Nathan said she is fortunate to have pictures and even a movie to help keep her mother’s memory alive.

Nathan and her family are among those that were invited to attend the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony on April 29 at the Emancipation Hall at the Capitol.

Descendants and loved ones will honor the Six Triple Eight-unit members who served for their country, including the only two remaining living survivors — Private First-Class Anna Mae Wilson Robertson and Major Fannie McClendon.

The ceremony comes three years after the Congressional Gold Medal Act was signed into law during the Biden administration.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor awarded by congress, and is used to recognize individuals or groups that have made a significant impact to American history and culture.