World War II Veteran Fannie Griffin-McClendon received a beauty surprise when her Phoenix VA’s Community Living Center nurse brought her into one of the center’s common areas.
Griffin-McClendon—one of the center’s most beloved residents—was presented with three handmade wigs from Veteran-and woman-owned small business, Wigs Plus Vets, through a partnership with VA. The store exclusively serves service members and Veterans experiencing hair loss.
Griffin-McClendon, 105, is a favorite at the Center, but she has an impressive military history, too. Once a squadron commander in the Air Force, her military career began in the Army. Today, she’s the last surviving member of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (the “Six Triple Eight”), the first and only all-Black, all-female battalion deployed overseas during World War II. Expected to fail, they were tasked with clearing a backlog of millions of pieces of troop mail in six months, working in frigid, barely lit warehouses.
They famously cleared and sorted more than 17 million pieces of mail in half that time.
A day of beauty
As the team unveiled three wigs for Griffin-McClendon to choose from, her expression shifted from delight to curiosity.
“What made you all decide to do this for me?” she asked.
“We wanted to honor you and show you something special today. It’s a day of beauty,” said Wigs Plus Vets President Leslie Williams.
With the help of VA staff and the Wigs Plus Vets stylists, she tried on each piece. Each wig seemed to spark a new wave of excitement, prompting laughter, poses struck in the mirror and comments about how she would turn heads down the hallway. She picked out her favorite, and the team is customizing it for her.
The Wigs Plus Vets team said they were grateful for the experience.
“We wanted to honor her beauty, her history and her incredible energy,” Williams added.
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