20 OCT--This Day in US Military History

1926 – President Calvin Coolidge ordered Marines to guard the U. S. Mail.

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, on 14 October 1926, the brutal robbery and killing of a U. S. Mail truck driver forced President Calvin Coolidge to turn to the Marine Corps for assistance in the civil community. By Presidential Order, 2,500 Marines proceeded on duty to guard the mail. The Commandant, anticipating the Presidential Order, on 18 October had directed the Commanding General, Headquarters, Department of the Pacific, located in San Francisco, …You will organize a force from the 4th Regiment, to be known as the Western Mail Guards, under the command of Brigadier-General Smedley D. Butler….
Brigadier-General Smedley D. Butler, known as “Ol’ Gimlet Eye” to fellow Marines, brought a long record of combat leadership and two Congressional Medals of Honor to the Mail Guards. Veteran of both World War I and the guerilla wars of Central America, Butler’s easy-going manner hid his cold, methodical approach to the task given to the Marines. As the primary source of personnel for the Western Mail Guard, the 4th Marines initially would be spread throughout eleven states(7). Part of a twelfth state, Texas would be added on 22 October 1926.
General Butler’s fully armed Marines soon became sobering influences throughout Post Offices, mail trains, and mail trucks in those areas. While Marines carried out their mail guard assignment, only one attempted robbery was recorded. That particular robbery involved an unguarded mail train carrying no mail at the time. Meanwhile, in San Diego, the base stood relatively empty with a reduced level of caretaker personnel awaiting the return of the 4th Regiment. When normal operations returned to the U. S. Mail system as a result of the Marine guards, the need for continued assignment of such forces became less and less justified. The return of the 4th Marines to San Diego began on 10 January 1927 and by 18 February all personnel had been returned to their home bases as the Mail Guard Force disbanded.

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