TIME: 10 a.m.
LOCATION: On the parade grounds, Outside the Post Office — 4 South Main Street
Inclement Weather?
Wallingford Town Hall — 45 South Main Street

WALLINGFORD, CT — A ceremony will mark the dedication of the Wallingford Post Office to honor the late Chief Warrant Office Richard R. Lee, on Saturday, May 2. A military flyover is scheduled in salute to the local Army hero who was killed in Operation Desert Storm 18 years ago.

The public program beings at 10 am on the parade grounds outside the Post Office located at 4 South Main Street.

The program will include his parents, Earl and Helen Lee, who currently reside in North Carolina, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro who authored legislation that led to the change of name for the Post Office building in Wallingford.

Joining the United States Postal Service in Wallingford and the Rep. DeLauro as hosts of the dedication program will be the Class of 1972 from Mark Sheehan High School and Lyman Hall High School.

Lee's classmate and Wallingford letter carrier, Robert J. Devaney, joined fellow classmate Debra Frost Markiewicz, first approached the Congresswoman about naming the Wallingford Post Office in Mr. Lee's honor.

Others supporting the tribute included Mayor William Dickinson, Senator Len Fasano, Councilman Robert Parisi, and Wallingford Postmaster Michael Schrader who will emcee Saturday's program.

Public Law 110-444, signed by President George Bush, officially authorized the rededication of the Wallingford Post Office as the "CWO Richard R. Lee Post Office Building." In case of inclement weather, the outdoors program will move to the Wallingford Town Hall at 45 South Main Street. Chief Warrant Officer Richard R. Lee was born July 28, 1954, and grew up in Wallingford, attending local elementary schools in the Yalesville section of town. Rich attended Lyman Hall High School until 1971 when the growing town built Sheehan High School.

Rich won the Regional Championship for Diving at Sheehan. He played soccer as well and helped Sheehan High to many victories before graduating with the class of 1972.

In 1973, he enlisted in the Army and eventually achieved the rank Chief Warrant Officer. He learned to fly a helicopter in the Army and hoped to use his civilian rating in his retirement years. He was deployed to fight in Operation Desert Storm and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country on February 7, 1991.

The Town of Wallingford sits on the Quinnipiac River in northern New Haven County and is home to approximately 45,000 residents. The Postal Service’s Connecticut District serves more than 3.5 million postal customers over more than 5,000 square miles through 218 post offices and an additional 80 stations and branches.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.