Security· Civil Aid and Humanitarian Operations
Second USMC Mail Guard Duty
A repeat of the successful 1921 deployment after a fresh outbreak of mail robberies.
When postal hold-ups resumed in the mid-1920s, the government again turned to the Corps, and Marines were called back to guard the mail. As before, they were sent to the major mail-distributing centers and put aboard the trains, operating in small armed parties under orders to stop any theft of the mails in their charge. The Marine presence once more deterred the robberies quickly, and the detachments were withdrawn after the danger passed. No casualties resulted. The two mail-guard deployments, in 1921 and again in 1926, became a celebrated part of the Corps' interwar history, remembered for the simple effectiveness of the solution: posting Marines, with their reputation for resolve, was enough to make the mails safe without the firing of a shot.
Record no. 559