Stamp salutes WWII’s finest

U. S. Postal Service pays tribute to Medal of Honor recipients

He has wrinkles now, and his hair has thinned. But Charles Coolidge clearly remembers the day nearly 70 years ago that he earned a Medal of Honor in France for leading his outnumbered combat group through four days of continuous fighting.

“Just a 20- year- old boy. I live it every day. I can’t forget it,” the Chattanooga, Tenn., resident, now 92, says of that day in Belmont sur Buttant. “If you were there in combat and they were shooting at you ... 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You’d never be able to forget it.”

To make sure the nation doesn’t forget his sacrifice either, the U. S. Postal Service unveiled its newest stamp on Monday, Veterans Day.

Coolidge’s face and those of 11 other World War II Medal of Honor recipients will provide the backdrop for what the Postal Service is calling the most iconic stamp in history: the Medal of Honor stamp.

“This is the most prestigious stamp issuance that we will ever undertake,” says Susan McGowan, who manages stamp services for the Postal Service. “There is so much to tell and honor. How do we communicate it all on a 1- by- 2- inch box?”

Originally, the Postal Service considered putting medal recipients’ faces on the stamps, but it wanted to make sure the stamp package honored all 464 WWII honorees.

Each package consists of 20 stamps on a souvenir sheet. It lists the names of every recipient and includes two stamp designs depicting Medals of Honor for the Army and Navy, the only service branches that awarded the medal at the time. The faces of Coolidge and the oth11 recipients who were alive in

er 2012 form a border around the stamps on the souvenir sheet. Production had to be rushed. Since the approval process last year, four of the men have passed away.

Typically, 30 million copies of a stamp are printed. About 81 million of the Medal of Honor stamps are being issued. “That’s how popular it will be,” Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders predicts. “These recipients are revered by all Americans.”

Retired postal employee George Sakato, 92, recalls the moment he was told his Distinguished Service Cross, which recognizes extreme gallantry, would be upgraded to a Medal of Honor. A member of a JapaneseAmerican Army unit, he was cited for charging an enemy stronghold in northern France in 1944, then taking command of his platoon and leading it in defending its position. “I thought someone was pulling my leg,” he says. “But sure enough, I went to Washington ( in 2000), and President Clinton gave me the Medal of Honor.”

U. S. POSTAL SERVICE About 81 million of the Medal of Honor stamps are being issued. “These recipients are revered by all Americans,” spokesman Mark Saunders says.