Everybody Has A Story: Mail pickup a piece of cake for these Marines

I was a postal clerk with the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War, and I have two stories to tell.

While we were picking up our mail at an airfield, the pilot came out and handed us a package with these instructions: “Handle with care, as this package was handled, hand to hand, since it was mailed.” The package was a decorated birthday cake, in a box from the bakery. It was the kind with half a cellophane top. Our postal officer, Maj. Bouve, delivered it to the Marine at the front line the next day.

Public Affairs was there to take publicity pictures for the news services the next day, but they were advised not to publish the story — as it would have post offices swamped with cakes that needed to be hand delivered!

Another time, we had a letter mailed from a town in Arkansas, but it was impossible to decipher the recipient Marine’s name. But his serial number could be read. All our files were on 2 x 2 index cards, and we just could not find a match. We researched it for days and days because we knew the guy would appreciate it. But we just couldn’t make the match.

Then I remembered that a lot of towns in Arkansas were named after their local founding families. So it came to me to look at the postmark. We checked the postmark against the serial number and were able to find a match at last — because he had the same name as his hometown.

We knew a lot of love was put into that letter and we were happy we put the extra effort in.

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