Charity Adams Earley

Lt. Col.

Charity Adams Earley
Birth nameCharity Edna Adams
BornDecember 5, 1918
Kittrell, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedJanuary 13, 2002(2002-01-13) (aged 83)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Buried
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branch
Years of service1942 − 1946
RankLieutenant Colonel
Unit3rd Company, 3rd Training Regiment WAAC, Fort Des Moines
Commands6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion
Awards
MonumentsNamesake of Fort Gregg-Adams
Spouse(s)Stanley A. Earley (m.1949)
Other workEducator

Charity Adams Earley (December 5, 1918 – January 13, 2002) was an American United States Army officer. She was the first African-American woman to be an officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later WACs) and was the commanding officer of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was made up of African-American women serving overseas during World War II. Adams was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the army by the completion of the war.

A monument honoring her was dedicated at Fort Leavenworth on November 30, 2018. Fort Gregg-Adams was renamed in honor of Earley and Arthur J. Gregg in 2023, the first-ever U.S. military based bearing the names of African Americans.


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