Parts of Bradford have been transformed into war-torn Britain for new Netflix drama named Six Triple Eight.
Six Triple Eight will tell the fascinating story of the 6888th battalion, the only all-women, all-black battalion during World War Two.
The area of Bradford named Little Germany has been transformed into war-torn Birmingham for the movie, with filming expected to start next week.
The Netflix boasts a star-studded cast, featuring big names such as Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon, Kerry Washington and is being directed by Tyler Perry.
Set dressing preparations are underway for filming #Netflix #WW2 film in #LittleGermany #Bradford I suspect these will become piles of rubble helping to disguise parking meters etc pic.twitter.com/big5kN2xsz
— Jason Feather (@appertunity) January 28, 2023
The 6888th Postal Directory Battalion was formed in 1945 due to a significant shortage of soldiers able to manage the postal service for the US Army.
The unit, consisting of more than 800 women, sailed to the UK in February 1945, arriving first in Glasgow before travelling on to Birmingham, where they would be based.
In Birmingham, they discovered piles of undelivered mail from US forces to loved-ones back home.
Read more: Duck & Drake – the historic Leeds pub that stars in Netflix smash-hit film
Netflix said about the film: “Facing discrimination, unfamiliar land, and a war-torn country, they persevered and sorted over 17 million pieces of mail, reconnecting American soldiers with their families and loved ones back home”.
The battalion created their own motto “No Mail, Low Morale” to show how vital they believed getting those letters delivered was.
After sorting and successfully delivering the mail in the UK, the women were moved to France to begin tackling a second backlog. The unit was then disbanded after the war in 1946, and unfortunately received little recognition for their incredible work.
However, years later in 2022 President Jo Biden signed a bill for the women to receive Congress’ highest honour – the Congressional Gold Medal.
Read more: The new Malaysian restaurant serving up ‘a culinary journey’ in Horsforth
Feature image – Wasim Hussain via Twitter
