Nowhere
does Veteran’s Day mean more than at the Postal Service – one of the
nation’s top employers of military veterans. The men and women who
served in our country’s military branches and then came to work for USPS have
worn two uniforms – one in defense of our country and one
as a trusted civil servant who continues to bind the
country together through universal mail service.
Isaac Warren Yost Jr.,
a flat-sorter clerk at the Fort Myers Processing & Distribution
Center, is an exception; he wore three military uniforms before
joining the Postal Service in 1997.
“I joined the Army in
1951 when I was 18. I served 18 months and then joined the
Navy in 1952,” he says. “I joined the Air Force in 1957.”
Yost also says
his ancestors were very involved in the shaping of America.
“My great-great-great
grandfather Liberty Browne was born on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia,” Yost says
proudly. “His father was on George Washington’s staff and served in the
Army – 9th Pennsylvania
Rifles.
“My own father
was a gunner’s mate on the old Arizona,” he adds. “I wanted to serve, too,
after growing up during World War II.”
Yost’s Air Force career
took him all over Europe and the Far East,
including Taiwan, Okinawa, Japan and Korea. He
also served in Vietnam during the war.
“In July 1969,
I got caught between two buildings, a bunker and a rocket attack. I
remember being on the ground. It was so bad I came this close to getting a
Purple Heart,” he says shaking his head. “A 122 rocket went off.
The Russian rockets
used dynamite. Shrapnel was in my flak jacket. [The shrapnel]
is now in a shadow box in my living room.”
After retiring as
a master sergeant, Yost joined the Postal Service.
“I
was 64. In the time I’ve been here, I’ve buried a wife, two
daughters and a girlfriend,” he said. “If I hadn’t had the post office, I
probably would have deteriorated away.
“I am thankful for my
military career and for my postal career,” he says with a warm smile.
“I have served my country my entire life.”
