Security· Civil Aid and Humanitarian Operations
First USMC Mail Guard Duty
The first of two famous deployments in which Marines were set to guard the United States mail.
A wave of armed robberies of mail trains and post-office shipments in 1921 prompted the federal government to call on the Corps, and some Marines, drawn from across the service, were sent to the principal mail-distributing centers around the country. Operating in small groups of two or three, armed and under strict orders, they guarded the mails, rode the mail trains, and protected the distributing facilities, forming what amounted to a nation-wide system of mail protection. The effect was immediate: the robberies ceased almost as soon as the Marines appeared, and once the threat had subsided the detachments were withdrawn. No casualties resulted. The episode became a point of pride in the Corps, a demonstration that the mere presence of disciplined Marines, known to be ready to use their weapons, could end a crime wave.
Record no. 557