Maj. Lakisha Hale-Earle, chief of G1 plans and training

Maj. Lakisha Hale-Earle, chief of G1 plans and training for the U.S. Army Reserve’s 99th Readiness Division (right), pays tribute to former Sgt. Hilda P. Griggs, who served in the Second World War’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (left), during New Jersey’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration Jan. 19 at the N.J. State Museum Auditorium in Trenton. The 6888th was the first-and-only all-African American, all-female unit to deploy overseas during the war. It consisted of 855 women under the command of Lt. Charity Adams, the first African-American woman commissioned in the Women’s Army Corps.