JOHN WAYNE SADDLES UP
U.S. Postal Service honors the “Duke” in Legends of Hollywood Commemorative Stamps Series

WASHINGTON The U.S. Postal Service has chosen Marion Michael Morrison, better-known to millions of adoring fans as John Wayne (or “Duke”), to be honored in the Legends of Hollywood commemorative stamp series this year. The full pane of stamps will be unveiled at the Odyssey Ball, a private fundraising gala for the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, on April 3, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The official first day of issue ceremony will be held later in the year.

“More than an actor, John Wayne wore lots of hats – as a humanitarian, patriot, husband, father, director and producer – and is still one of the most popular Americans of the 20th Century,” said David Failor, the Postal Service’s Executive Director Stamp Services.

“On behalf of the family, I’m grateful and pleased that the Postal Service has chosen to remember our father by issuing a prestigious Legends of Hollywood postage stamp in his honor,” said Ethan Wayne, one of John Wayne’s seven children and general partner of Wayne Enterprises. “He would be glad to know he will be visiting the homes and businesses of millions of his fans every day.”

The John Wayne stamp joins others in the Legends of Hollywood series honoring Marilyn Monroe (1995), James Dean (1996), Humphrey Bogart (1997), Alfred Hitchcock (1998), James Cagney (1999), Edward G. Robinson (2000), Lucille Ball (2001), Cary Grant (2002) and Audrey Hepburn (2003).

Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency, the Postal Service makes deliveries to more than141 million addresses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $68 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mail and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. Moreover, today’s postage rates will remain stable until at least 2006. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 43 percent of the world’s mail volume – some 202 billion letters,

advertisements, periodicals and packages a year – and serves seven million customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations nationwide.