Daily printout: March 26

A Postal Service employee who helped a motorist escape a burning vehicle along a busy Minneapolis area highway received the top hero of the year award from the National Association of Letter Carriers last week.

Tesfaye Deyasso, a St. Louis Park, MN, letter carrier, was driving home after his shift when he came upon a car ablaze with the driver trapped inside. He made a lifesaving decision to be the first to stop and initiate a dramatic rescue effort.

As Deyasso and others raced to free the motorist, they were further challenged by the road’s guardrail — which had pinned the driver’s door — and growing flames that prevented access to the passenger’s door. As one rescuer broke the window, Deyasso and the others pulled the man out to safety before the vehicle went up in flames.

“A lot of people think that we only deliver mail and packages, but I would like to let them know we can also save a life. We can help people,” said Deyasso, who was recognized March 20 as the national hero of the year at the union’s annual awards luncheon in Washington, DC.

The union, also known as NALC, recognized three letter carriers as regional heroes: Brian Meyers Sr. of Johnstown, PA, who stopped a man from being stabbed multiple times by an assailant; Rungphet Bodnar of Flint, MI, who used her dog spray to repel an attack on a little girl at a school bus stop; and Gerald “Jerry” Loney of Topeka, KS, who aided an injured customer by applying tourniquets to the man’s wrists to stop bleeding.

The Humanitarian of the Year Award went to Matthew Ross Sr., a Syracuse, NY, carrier technician who does charitable work in his community.

Two letter carriers received the union’s Vigilant Hero Award: Michael Waite of Wallingford, CT, who helped several residents evacuate a row of 14 townhomes during a fire, and Taya Cradle of Laurel, MD, who followed a 911 dispatcher’s instructions and performed CPR on a customer who had collapsed.

The Partnership Award was given to Andrew Fontanetta and Anthony “Tony” Paolillo of Flushing, NY, for leading a blood drive that has collected more than 1,500 pints of blood from 21 Post Offices over two decades.

Awards for honorable acts went to City Carrier Assistant Skyler Wilburg, who stopped a rolling vehicle after a customer failed to place it in park in the Albertson, NY, Post Office parking lot, and Salem, MA, Letter Carrier David Moulton, who came to the rescue of a 3-year-old boy who wandered away from his day care facility on a frigid day.

A panel of independent judges determined the recipients in each category.

Several of the union’s honorees also received awards from the Postmaster General Heroes’ Program.

As 1825 dawned, the American postal network was still known as the General Post Office — but not for long. By the 1830s, it was renamed the Post Office Department.

The department’s official seal was switched from the Roman god Mercury to an image of a postal worker riding a horse at full gallop.

It was a fitting symbol for a nation on the move.

In 1838, an act of Congress designated all U.S. railroads as postal routes, and low-bid mail transportation contracts known as “star” routes came soon after. As the nation expanded westward, the Pony Express (1860) helped speed letters to the West Coast before the transcontinental railroad was laid.

It was an era of firsts: the first public telegraph service (1845); U.S. postage stamp (1847); branch Post Offices (1847); money orders (1864) and free city delivery (1863).

And in the organization’s work force, it was an era of “first-knowns”: The first known female letter carrier (Sarah Black, Charlestown, MD, 1845); African American postmaster (James W. Mason, Sunnyside, AR, 1869); African American letter carrier (James B. Christian, Richmond, VA, 1869); and African American female postmaster (Anna M. Dumas, Covington, LA, 1872).           

By 1872, the Post Office Department played such an important role in establishing and advancing the nation that Congress made it a department of the executive branch.

As the country and the organization gained its footing domestically, it turned its attention beyond its borders, joining with 21 other countries in 1874 to form a global network known today as the Universal Postal Union.

Coming next: Link’s series on the Postal Service’s 250th anniversary will continue soon with a look at events from 1875-1924.

The latest episode of “Mailin’ It,” the USPS podcast, talks about this year’s new stamps.

The guests are Lisa Bobb-Semple, the Postal Service’s stamp services director, and Daniel Piazza, the National Postal Museum’s chief curator of philately.

The 34-minute episode, released March 25, is available on Link and other postal websites, as well as most podcast platforms.