I snagged this rare postal jeep FJ-3 brochure off of ebay; It is rare enough that I didn’t know these existed! One thing that caught my eye was the Civil Defense sticker. I off handedly mentioned it to Ann and she quickly found the reason for the sticker. From this page at the USPS website:
Each year from 1954 to 1961, civil defense authorities coordinated a drill called Operation Alert.6 Cities across the country conducted civil defense exercises on the same day. Postal participation in Operation Alert 1956 was described in a West Virginia newspaper:
A civil defense drill was held Tuesday afternoon in the Beckley Post Office. This drill was one of a series of simultaneous drills held in 38 key postal installations of the Washington Region….
These training drills are required by the government since keeping the mails moving plays an important part in the communications system that must be maintained during national emergencies. Four feder- al trucks operated by the Beckley Post Office have been designated Civil Defense units, and bear that insignia.
Including the four vehicles at the Beckley Post Office, 25,000 postal trucks were designated as emergency civil defense vehicles and fitted with Civil Defense de- cals in 1956. It was believed that “postal trucks would be valuable as emergency ambulances, rescue vehicles, and for local emergency transportation in the event of an enemy attack.”
Starting in 1956, many postal vehicles bore decals indicating their potential use as ambulances, rescue vehicles, and for other transportation during emergencies.
In December 1964, the Civil Defense Program was expanded to include even the smallest postal-owned motor vehicles, the three-wheeled Mailsters. Vehicle maintenance facilities provided Civil Defense decals so that each of these smaller deliver could be identified. Civil Defense decals were required on postal-owned vehicles until March 1971.
Now for the brochure:
