As an employee of the Greenfield Post Office when World War II ended, I witnessed first-hand the outpouring of support as Franklin County residents sent their family members in Poland and other European countries large packages containing clothing, toiletries and household items — anything that would help them recover from the war.
As they left the Greenfield office, the packages were all given special tags required by the Postal Service and put in large canvas bags. The stamp window clerks, money order clerks and registered mail clerks were always there to assist residents dropping off their special deliveries.
Most of the packages were shipped service mail to ports like Boston and New York, where they were then loaded onto boats heading to Europe. It would have been quite a while before they arrived in the different countries.
Another bit of precious cargo I had a hand in delivering was money. Bags of money from the federal reserve in Boston were shipped on a very early train from Boston that ran as far as Troy, N.Y.
As part of my job as a clerk, I had to be at the post office at 5 a.m. on the day the money would arrive. I had to wear a gun, and I routinely waited for Sam Bassett, a contract driver, to take us to the railroad yard here in Greenfield. Once back at the office, all of it was put in the vault behind a caged area for safe keeping.
Then at about 9 or 10 a.m., Brink’s armored trucks would load the bags of money and distribute them to the different banks in the area. Fortunately for my sake, I never had to use that gun and I don’t recall any local robberies where the bags of money were stolen. It was certainly a duty I never liked, but someone had to do it.
One of my duties by the late 1940s and early 1950s that was more enjoyable was to help deliver parcels to many of the stores on Main Street. I don’t think many of the delivery services we have today were in business in this area back then.
Packages were delivered with red and green trucks that had no heat to keep warm in the winter. One of the drivers was Bert Wood, who later became a supervisor at the office. Another driver was Gus Benson, a person I loved working with. One of the first stops was Franklin County News, behind Baker Office Supply, where we delivered loads of magazines and books. Most all of the deliveries were done in back of the stores such as Wilson’s Department Store, Sears and JCPenny.
Main Street had many clothing stores for both men and women. H.G. Carson was a men’s store that I liked. One of the employees there was Phil O’Hara, who also had his own band that played at weddings and other occasions. Colodny’s, Peggy Parker, Aliber’s and Hanley’s were all women’s clothing stores that shipped their inventory through the U.S. Postal Service. One by one, we would park the trucks along the side of the street and carry the boxes into the stores.
To keep warm on those cold winter days, we’d often stop at Frank’s Lunch on the corner of Ames and School streets and buy a cup of coffee. Reflecting on my time at the post office, I feel that it was so rewarding, for you got to see and meet the owners of many of these stores, many of which are a thing of the past.