During the 1920s, two of our Presidents ordered the Marine Corps to help guard the U.S. Mail. -
...Within a few days, 2,200 Marines and 53 officers, taken mainly from the expeditionary forces kept alert at Quantico, Virginia, and San Diego, California, were spread throughout the country guarding the mail. They usually worked in small detachments of two or three Marines.
And they meant business. Navy Secretary Denby, a former Marine, sent a message to the Corps, which reads in part:
You must, when on guard duty, keep your weapons in hand and, if attacked, shoot and shoot to kill. There is no compromise in this battle with bandits. If two Marines guarding a mail car, for example, are suddenly covered by a robber, neither must hold up his hands, but both must begin shooting at once. One may be killed, but the other will get the robbers and save the mail. When our Marine Corps men go as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered or there must be a dead Marine at the post of duty...
In addition to the special orders, the Marines were provided a training manual in question-and-answer format. The 105 questions and answers were designed to provide most of the information the Marines needed to fulfill their mission. Here’s a sample:
Q. Suppose he [the robber] is using a gun or making threats with a gun in trying to escape?
A. Shoot him.
Q. Suppose the thief was apparently unarmed but was running away?
A. Call halt twice at the top of your voice, and if he does not halt, fire one warning shot; and if he does not obey this, shoot to hit him...
From the day the Marines assumed guard duty until March 15, 1922, when they were withdrawn, not a single attempted mail robbery took place.
MORE at link:
https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/crime-and-postal-history-bring-marines#sthash.XPTcqF2I.dpuf
The Post Office Department used to require airline pilots who were carrying high value cargo to be armed.
I think during the anti-gun hysteria in the late 60s and about the time hijackings got going that Trickey Dick’s admin put a stop to armed pilots.
Up to the late 50s the PO used to issue 45 ACP revolvers to specific express clerks and register clerks. Then went to 38s. I know the last clerk (retired) in my area who had a PO gun license.
Thanks. I served in the Corps and had no idea of that
L