People on the move — in vehicles, in wheelchairs, on foot — ran into trouble in 2017, but Postal Service employees were there to make bad situations better.
Rapid City, SD, City Carrier Assistant Kene Roberts helped free a handicapped driver trapped in a vehicle on fire.
Kevin Boese, a Central Plains District statistical programs supervisor, relied on his military experience to respond to an isolated wreck near Otis, KS.
Another military veteran, Retail Associate Kenneth Arnold, put his combat first aid training to good use when a customer was gravely injured by a car that crashed into the Searcy, AR, Post Office.
Sandpoint, ID, Retail Associate Ole Olson braved freezing temperatures to aid a man clinging to life after his Jeep slid off an icy road and plunged down a 30-foot embankment.
Meanwhile, in Casper, WY, Letter Carrier JoAnn Humphrey rushed to help a sanitation worker who was seriously injured in a trash truck accident — earning not only the woman’s gratitude, but recognition from the city council, too.
Other heroes were also undeterred by transportation-related crises.
Swanton, MD, Rural Carrier Associate John Flanagan Jr. didn’t hesitate to assist a man whose boat overturned in a river.
Customers who fell out of wheelchairs were thankful for attentive Postal Service employees such as Novato, CA, Letter Carrier Carlene Miller.
Kelli Bear, an alert rural carrier in Oakwood, OH, sprang into action when she recognized the faint cry of a man pinned underneath a large riding lawn mower that fell on him as he attempted to load it onto a pickup truck.
“The customer had been stuck for quite some time and was extremely grateful that someone heard him,” said local Officer in Charge Scott Wurst.