The News & Observer by Anna Roman

Raleigh native and military veteran Millie Dunn Veasey hosted Martin Luther King Jr. during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

She graduated from St. Augustine’s University, became a teacher and eventually secretary to the president of the university.

And she was one of 855 women who helped sort and deliver millions of pieces of mail in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II.

The work of the all-Black, all-women battalion is featured in the Netflix movie “The Six Triple Eight,” written by Tyler Perry and starring Kerry Washington. 

Now, a Raleigh post office will bear Veasey’s name.

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross sponsored a bill to rename the post office at 2777 Brentwood Road in Raleigh the “Millie Dunn Veasey Post Office.” She announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden has signed the legislation into law.

“Millie Dunn Veasey is an American hero — a veteran and civil rights leader who served in the only overseas all-Black women’s battalion, ensuring that soldiers on the front lines received letters from loved ones at home,” Ross said in a news release.

”She led a remarkable life — one that we should celebrate,” Ross said. “Renaming this post office after her is a small tribute to her lasting legacy and the lives she changed for the better.”

Veasey died in 2018, shortly after celebrating her 100th birthday.

Her most memorable moment of serving in the Army took place on leave in London on V-E Day, the official end of World War II in the European theater.

“The church bells rang. There was the changing of the guards in front of Buckingham Palace, all of the horses, the parade, all of the pomp and circumstance that they do in England. ... I was standing under Big Ben!” The News & Observer previously reported.

Link to full article: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article298108473.html