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From the S&S archives:
Mail relayed to troops on duty at Beirut

Stars and Stripes
European edition, July 31, 1958
John Wright / ©S&S
Sfc. Dale W. Click sorts mail at U.S. Forces Post Office 379, located under an olive tree in Lebanon, during the U.S. intervention in July, 1958. Purchase reprint
John Wright / ©S&S
Spc. 4 Ned Crisco barters for a knife with one of the many traders encamped around the perimeter of the U.S. forces' bivouac in Lebanon. Purchase reprint
John Wright / ©S&S
Pfc. Ben Carpenter, 17th Signal Bn., Alpha Co., takes time out for a haircut from a local barber who set up shop in the bivouac area. The cost: 50 cents in U.S. or Lebanese currency, or 10 cigarettes. Even when getting haircuts, the Americans held on to their weapons in the volatile area. Purchase reprint

BEIRUT — Mail from Germany is delivered to the men of Army Task Force 201 within two days of being mailed, according to Sfc Dale W. Click, NCOIC of U.S. Forces Post Office 379 here.

The first week that the post office was opened for business, 200 bags of mail was distributed.

"In view of the short notice we had before coming here," Click said, "the mail delivery is very good. We usually get one mail plane each night, about 3 am, and the mail is delivered to the men the same day."

"We have outgoing mail every day, too," Click added. "Many of the soldiers, including myself, sent letters and received replies in the first six days we were here."

U.S. Forces Post Office 379 is nothing more than a roped-off area under an olive tree near Beirut's airport. It is operated by personnel from the 68th Army Postal Unit at Aschaffenburg, Germany.

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