Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I hope others will share their World War II covers. I would love to see them.
Linus
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I'm currently reading a book on the disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper, July, 1938. There is a ton of circumstantial evidence suggesting that the Japanese had something to do with its disappearance, and the relationship between Pan Am and the US Navy as they relate to Midway, Wake Island, and Guam in particular in those years leading up to the Japanese attack are fascinating.
But, here is my entry:
It's a clipper cover mailed from the USS Maryland, dated Sunday, November 30, 1941, a week before the Pearl Harbor attack. The image of the Boeing 314 is an actual photograph. The map is printed in high-relief. USS Maryland (BB-46) "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" was present on Battleship Row during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and was lightly damaged by Japanese bombs.
I remain vigilant for clipper covers convergent with the Pearl Harbor attack as well as those carried by the Hawaii Clipper on her last voyage. She made it to Honolulu, to Midway, and to Wake before she disappeared...
Did I say that I like covers with maps?
PS, I just noticed that the cover has an error: Guam is misspelled on the map!
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Pigdoc apart from the mis-spelling it's the worst map of New Guinea and Australia but apart from that a really great cover. Good thread Linus - couple of WW11 covers from the Coral sea area.
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Pigdoc, on the map the island of Guam seems to have changed it's spelling?
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Here are a few WWII related covers in my collection. I especially like the obscure ones like "War Rationing", as I wonder how many of those got saved?
I especially like the obscure ones like "War Rationing", as I wonder how many of those got saved?
A little ahead of the war, again one that probably didn't get saved..
A nice patriotic cover from a sailor
Just civilian use of a patriotic envelope, I liked the colors and cachet
I collect my postage due stamps on cover, here's one from a soldier to his wife
A cover from John Bernard...
V-Mail from John Bernard...
And a little Internet research let me know he arrived home safe and sound!
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Here is some family corespondence between my Mom (pictured) and her brother who at that time was with the RCAF in India. My Grandad collected stamps, and it seems that the rest of the cover and message was not important to him. I feel differently about that.
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on the Belgian cover honoring Patton, note that the tank illustrated is not a tank he would have had in his army (M3s and their variants, mostly) but an M48 Patton, named in his honor.
My dad served in Hawaii, on submarine patrol, in a PB4Y2, one of two naval variants of the Consolidated B24 liberator.
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David, point well taken about the tank shown in the cachet on the Belgian cover. Was your Dad a pilot, navigator, or gunner on the PB4Y2? One of the kids in my neighborhood growing up, his dad was a machine gunner on a PBY Catalina, which is similar but different, to your dad's aircraft. In the 1960's, their family drove a Pontiac Catalina car. Thanks to all who posted on this thread, very nice covers!
Linus
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My dad's cover to Springville, Iowa to his dad contains a letter. Some of you may enjoy what it says, so I will give you some excerpts from his letter, written near Reims, France, July 10, 1945, about two months after Germany's surrender:
"When we were in Germany, I could have picked up all kinds of shotguns, Dad. But we moved so fast we didn't monkey with them. I saw some nice hammerless guns. I don't know why in hell I didn't send you four or five of them. Most were all 16 gauges. We broke a lot of guns, mostly rifles. If we found some guns, and nobody wanted them, we wrapped them around a tree. Too damn many young kids that would like nothing better than to pick one up at night and take a shot at some lone American walking in an out of the way place. Rifle ammunition was laying everywhere. We had orders, though, to always go in twos, especially at night. When a town was taken (and we were in plenty of towns that were just taken the day before) the Military Government would order civilians to turn in all guns. The GIs would pick out the ones they wanted and then haul the rest to a river and throw them in. That's by the truckload, too. Lots of them were real old guns, probably worth some pretty good money back in the states."
My dad said they would stick a rifle in the fork of a tree and back a jeep up into it and bend the barrel to ruin it. He did bring home one old double-barrel, engraved, shotgun, which my brother has somewhere at his house. If "Antiques Roadshow" ever comes to town, I would love to have it appraised on the show. This letter would explain how I got it.
Linus
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Hey Gary,
my Dad was top turret gunner. He was also an instructor, teaching not only to shoot but to manage fire frequency to keep the barrells from melting
The Catalina was twin engine amphibious patrol craft, that could be outfitted with light guns and depth charges; the Privateer was four engine land-based bomber that was modified for patrolling (note bubbles on aft waist guns, the better to provide wide field of vision).
My Dad's variant was the only type with single stabilizer; the others all had the twin stabilizers.
David
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This is one of my favorite WWII postcards in my collection. I found this card in an antiques shop in Perry, Iowa, USA. The picture shows Lecco, a city on the southeastern shore of Lake Como in northern Italy. The card is written after the war ended by Tommy Jitchaku, an Army medic in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, who was from Hawaii and of Japanese ancestry.
According to Wikipedia, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was the most decorated unit in the history of American warfare. The 4,000 men who initially made up the unit in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 2 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (five earned in one month). Twenty-one of its members were awarded Medals of Honor.
Tommy became a real estate agent in Hilo, Hawaii after the war, married a nurse, and raised three daughters. He passed away in 1999 at age 84 and is buried in Punchbowl Cemetary in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
One can only imagine the things this man saw in the war as a combat medic in the 442.
Linus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
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05:34:17pm
1983 Medal of Honor commemorative FDC signed by Vice Admiral John Bulkeley, Medal of Honor recipient.
As a Lieutenant, Lt. Bulkeley led the 6 boat PT Boat Squadron #3 in the Philippines during the early months of the war and received his Medal of Honor for his actions during that campaign. The Squadron was the subject of John Ford's 1945 movie "They Were Expendable". Good movie!
Roy
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Here are a few from my Iwo Jima collection -- they are the ones I have that are listed in Mellone's FDC catalog.
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This cover was salvaged from a British freighter, S.S. Eros, after the ship was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-48 on June 7, 1940, off the north coast of Eire:
Here's a pre-war photograph of Eros
Eros was lucky. A rescue tug managed to tow her to a small island where much of her cargo, mainly war matériel (including an airplane) and mail was salvaged. The ship eventually returned to service, survived another attack, served as admiral ship for an Atlantic convoy, and returned to civilian use after the war.
Note that the cover had been posted to an address in Paris. Just a week after U-48's attack, German troops occupied Paris, which meant, of course, that it could not be delivered and had to be returned to it sender, apparently an employee of La Press in Montreal.
Bob
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Nice cover, Bob.
Scanned below is a cover I acquired at the local flea market sent by Private First Class Allenstein of the "RED BULL DIVISION." The 34th Infantry Division of the United States Army was a National Guard Unit consisting primarily of men from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North & South Dakota. According to Wikipedia, it was the first American division deployed to Europe in WWII, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)
Linus
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per Helblock's APO guide, this was sent almost one year to the date after the division arrived in Italy, where it would stay until war's end. It had already been engaged in North Africa prior to participating in the Italian campaign.
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Scanned below from my postal history collection is a cover from Genoa, Italy with a meter dated 4 10 40 that was headed to New York City, USA, and was censored and held by the British during WWII. There are two "Released" auxillary markings, one with a date of March 1946 after the war had ended. The British could have just tossed mail like this into a bonfire and destroyed it. I find it very interesting that they kept it in storage and passed it on its way many years later. They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter!
Linus
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Great thread everyone and quite informative. One could never imagine the volume and type of mail that was processed during the war. A lifetime study all by itself, would be an understatement really. Fantastic material.
Chimo
Bujutsu
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Bujutsu - Thank you for the kind words. Phil's post about covers having "character" inspired me to dig this cover out. The wrinkles in this cover make me think of it being jammed in a bag of mail, piled in a mountain of mail bags. This cover just oozes with "character."
Linus
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like so many dents in Phil's truck
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the landings were early in the morning; the French were 6 hours ahead of the time in DC; and this is a late evening PM. The cover was likely printed months earlier. Dieppe, while a disaster, was a portent of bigger things to come. And the invasion was no surprise to anyone; only where and when, neither of which is addressed (honest, no pun) on the cover
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"... They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter! ..."
Perhaps not. At some point, mail from Italy to the USA would have been routed thru a neutral country (Switzerland, Spain, Portugal) or not posted at all (perhaps best for the sender).
Great cover.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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ikeyPikey - Thanks for the kind words about my cover.
During World War II, the United Kingdom employed about 10,000 censor staff. British censorship was primarily based in the Littlewoods football pools building in Liverpool with nearly 20 other censor stations around the country. Additionally the British censored colonial and dominion mail at censor stations in the following places:
Dominions: Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia (not a dominion but supervised by the Dominion office) and Union of South Africa
Colonies: Aden, Antigua, Ascension Island, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, Ceylon, Cyprus, Dominica, Egypt, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Gold Coast, Grenada, British Guiana, British Honduras, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaya, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Nigeria, North Borneo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Palestine, Penang, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, British Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tanganyika, Trinidad, Tonga, Uganda, Virgin Islands and Zanzibar.
All I am saying, ikey, is they had a big building to store censored mail, and a lot of people working on the task.
Linus
Source: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia
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Here is another cover from my collection that was held for over a year, then returned to sender. It was mailed August 8, 1940 from New York City, New York, USA to Bordeaux, France. It arrived back in New York September 19, 1941, not delivered because of the war, but NOT censored also. I am not sure why it was not opened by censors.
Linus
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"... All I am saying, ikey, is they had a big building to store censored mail, and a lot of people working on the task ..."
Agreed ... but censored is not embargoed.
Our point-of-origin (see yours of 18/Mar) was a cover from Italy to NYC, posted in 1940 and delivered in 1946.
"... I find it very interesting that they kept it in storage and passed it on its way many years later. They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter! ..."
Mail from Italy to NYC, posted from 1941 thru 1945, would not have traveled thru the UK and, therefor, would not have been subject to British censorship or embargo and, therefor, would not have filled UK warehouses.
More likely, it would have traveled thru Lisbon, or Zurich, or not at all.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who agrees that there was lots of mail reviewed by British censors during the conflict, but suspects that very little of it was Axis-to-America)
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ikeyPikey -
Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. If only these old covers could tell us their stories...
Linus
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"... If only these old covers could tell us their stories ..."
Veterinarians (just ask pigdoc) like to point-out that their diagnostic skills must be superior to MDs because their patients can't tell them what's bothering them.
OTOH, the vets' patients don't lie ... so maybe that evens things up.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who is fond of saying that "every cover tells a story")
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"the landings were early in the morning; the French were 6 hours ahead of the time in DC; and this is a late evening PM. The cover was likely printed months earlier. "
Or uncacheted covers could have been quickly stamped for the occasion and cacheted later on. I did that on a number of occasions
Back in 1976 I did 500 of these. There had been complaints in Linn's Stamp News that the stamp was being issued in Belleville (at the Clara Maass Hospital) instead of at her birthplace on her birthday. So the week of June 28th, I bought a box of 500 of the postal stationary and ran them up to the East Orange post office on the appointed date.
The cachets were applied by my regular printer sometime after that, along with my usual batch that I sold unserviced prior to issue date, then serviced after issue date.
I went to the first day at the Belleville post office and stood there and stamped close to 1,000 covers that day! I still have loads of these if anyone wants one!
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The Milne Bay from Papua New Guinea is a beauty, very collectable
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Bumping this old topic to show the club a recent addition to my WWII topical collection. I do not usually buy USA new issue first day covers, but I made an exception, as I had to get this one to go along with the 442nd Infantry postcard in my collection. (as seen earlier in this thread.)
Linus
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Just noticed. The two censored/returned pieces were the same company. Hmmmm.
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Yes, same company, and both were purchased from a man selling $1 covers at a stamp show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Linus
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The United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
Yesterday, it was 80 years ago that happened, and I was listening to stories about that day on the radio, only to learn something I did not know.
The USS Arizona is still considered an active ship is the United States Navy, it has never been decommissioned, and it never will be, due to one reason...
The crew is still onboard.
Linus
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thanks for telling us; I diddn't know that either
would that be true for all submarines lost at sea?
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I don't know, David.
I heard that fact about the USS Arizona on the WHO radio program "Our American Stories" with Lee Habeeb.
Linus
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That's very interesting. 
I believe the oldest commissioned ship is HMS Victory which has been in dry dock for almost a hundred years and the oldest one still afloat is the USS Constitution.
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According to the US government's National Parks Service for the USS Arizona;
"Contrary to popular belief, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission."
Here is the website -
https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/uss-arizona.htm
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I guess you can't believe what you hear on the radio anymore, thanks for setting the record straight, I would not want to mislead anyone.
Linus
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Nowadays, hard to know who or what to believe, news-wise AND facts-wise.
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I am starting a thread for anyone who would like to share and discuss covers and postal history on the topic of World War II. I will start with a few covers from my WWII collection. My father served in World War II, landing on Omaha Beach 22 days after D-Day. He belonged to Company D, 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment assigned to General George S. Patton Jr's Third Army of the United States of America. I have several letters that he wrote home to Springville, Iowa, USA while serving in France, Luxembourg, and Germany.
I hope others will share their World War II covers. I would love to see them.
Linus
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04:18:28pm
re: World War II
I'm currently reading a book on the disappearance of the Hawaii Clipper, July, 1938. There is a ton of circumstantial evidence suggesting that the Japanese had something to do with its disappearance, and the relationship between Pan Am and the US Navy as they relate to Midway, Wake Island, and Guam in particular in those years leading up to the Japanese attack are fascinating.
But, here is my entry:
It's a clipper cover mailed from the USS Maryland, dated Sunday, November 30, 1941, a week before the Pearl Harbor attack. The image of the Boeing 314 is an actual photograph. The map is printed in high-relief. USS Maryland (BB-46) "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" was present on Battleship Row during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and was lightly damaged by Japanese bombs.
I remain vigilant for clipper covers convergent with the Pearl Harbor attack as well as those carried by the Hawaii Clipper on her last voyage. She made it to Honolulu, to Midway, and to Wake before she disappeared...
Did I say that I like covers with maps?
PS, I just noticed that the cover has an error: Guam is misspelled on the map!
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re: World War II
Pigdoc apart from the mis-spelling it's the worst map of New Guinea and Australia but apart from that a really great cover. Good thread Linus - couple of WW11 covers from the Coral sea area.
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re: World War II
Pigdoc, on the map the island of Guam seems to have changed it's spelling?
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re: World War II
Here are a few WWII related covers in my collection. I especially like the obscure ones like "War Rationing", as I wonder how many of those got saved?
I especially like the obscure ones like "War Rationing", as I wonder how many of those got saved?
A little ahead of the war, again one that probably didn't get saved..
A nice patriotic cover from a sailor
Just civilian use of a patriotic envelope, I liked the colors and cachet
I collect my postage due stamps on cover, here's one from a soldier to his wife
A cover from John Bernard...
V-Mail from John Bernard...
And a little Internet research let me know he arrived home safe and sound!
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09:11:06pm
re: World War II
Here is some family corespondence between my Mom (pictured) and her brother who at that time was with the RCAF in India. My Grandad collected stamps, and it seems that the rest of the cover and message was not important to him. I feel differently about that.
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re: World War II
on the Belgian cover honoring Patton, note that the tank illustrated is not a tank he would have had in his army (M3s and their variants, mostly) but an M48 Patton, named in his honor.
My dad served in Hawaii, on submarine patrol, in a PB4Y2, one of two naval variants of the Consolidated B24 liberator.
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re: World War II
David, point well taken about the tank shown in the cachet on the Belgian cover. Was your Dad a pilot, navigator, or gunner on the PB4Y2? One of the kids in my neighborhood growing up, his dad was a machine gunner on a PBY Catalina, which is similar but different, to your dad's aircraft. In the 1960's, their family drove a Pontiac Catalina car. Thanks to all who posted on this thread, very nice covers!
Linus
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re: World War II
My dad's cover to Springville, Iowa to his dad contains a letter. Some of you may enjoy what it says, so I will give you some excerpts from his letter, written near Reims, France, July 10, 1945, about two months after Germany's surrender:
"When we were in Germany, I could have picked up all kinds of shotguns, Dad. But we moved so fast we didn't monkey with them. I saw some nice hammerless guns. I don't know why in hell I didn't send you four or five of them. Most were all 16 gauges. We broke a lot of guns, mostly rifles. If we found some guns, and nobody wanted them, we wrapped them around a tree. Too damn many young kids that would like nothing better than to pick one up at night and take a shot at some lone American walking in an out of the way place. Rifle ammunition was laying everywhere. We had orders, though, to always go in twos, especially at night. When a town was taken (and we were in plenty of towns that were just taken the day before) the Military Government would order civilians to turn in all guns. The GIs would pick out the ones they wanted and then haul the rest to a river and throw them in. That's by the truckload, too. Lots of them were real old guns, probably worth some pretty good money back in the states."
My dad said they would stick a rifle in the fork of a tree and back a jeep up into it and bend the barrel to ruin it. He did bring home one old double-barrel, engraved, shotgun, which my brother has somewhere at his house. If "Antiques Roadshow" ever comes to town, I would love to have it appraised on the show. This letter would explain how I got it.
Linus
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re: World War II
Hey Gary,
my Dad was top turret gunner. He was also an instructor, teaching not only to shoot but to manage fire frequency to keep the barrells from melting
The Catalina was twin engine amphibious patrol craft, that could be outfitted with light guns and depth charges; the Privateer was four engine land-based bomber that was modified for patrolling (note bubbles on aft waist guns, the better to provide wide field of vision).
My Dad's variant was the only type with single stabilizer; the others all had the twin stabilizers.
David
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re: World War II
This is one of my favorite WWII postcards in my collection. I found this card in an antiques shop in Perry, Iowa, USA. The picture shows Lecco, a city on the southeastern shore of Lake Como in northern Italy. The card is written after the war ended by Tommy Jitchaku, an Army medic in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, who was from Hawaii and of Japanese ancestry.
According to Wikipedia, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was the most decorated unit in the history of American warfare. The 4,000 men who initially made up the unit in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 2 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (five earned in one month). Twenty-one of its members were awarded Medals of Honor.
Tommy became a real estate agent in Hilo, Hawaii after the war, married a nurse, and raised three daughters. He passed away in 1999 at age 84 and is buried in Punchbowl Cemetary in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
One can only imagine the things this man saw in the war as a combat medic in the 442.
Linus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)
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BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories
17 Mar 2018
05:34:17pm
re: World War II
1983 Medal of Honor commemorative FDC signed by Vice Admiral John Bulkeley, Medal of Honor recipient.
As a Lieutenant, Lt. Bulkeley led the 6 boat PT Boat Squadron #3 in the Philippines during the early months of the war and received his Medal of Honor for his actions during that campaign. The Squadron was the subject of John Ford's 1945 movie "They Were Expendable". Good movie!
Roy
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re: World War II
Here are a few from my Iwo Jima collection -- they are the ones I have that are listed in Mellone's FDC catalog.
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re: World War II
This cover was salvaged from a British freighter, S.S. Eros, after the ship was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-48 on June 7, 1940, off the north coast of Eire:
Here's a pre-war photograph of Eros
Eros was lucky. A rescue tug managed to tow her to a small island where much of her cargo, mainly war matériel (including an airplane) and mail was salvaged. The ship eventually returned to service, survived another attack, served as admiral ship for an Atlantic convoy, and returned to civilian use after the war.
Note that the cover had been posted to an address in Paris. Just a week after U-48's attack, German troops occupied Paris, which meant, of course, that it could not be delivered and had to be returned to it sender, apparently an employee of La Press in Montreal.
Bob
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re: World War II
Nice cover, Bob.
Scanned below is a cover I acquired at the local flea market sent by Private First Class Allenstein of the "RED BULL DIVISION." The 34th Infantry Division of the United States Army was a National Guard Unit consisting primarily of men from Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North & South Dakota. According to Wikipedia, it was the first American division deployed to Europe in WWII, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/34th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)
Linus
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re: World War II
per Helblock's APO guide, this was sent almost one year to the date after the division arrived in Italy, where it would stay until war's end. It had already been engaged in North Africa prior to participating in the Italian campaign.
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re: World War II
Scanned below from my postal history collection is a cover from Genoa, Italy with a meter dated 4 10 40 that was headed to New York City, USA, and was censored and held by the British during WWII. There are two "Released" auxillary markings, one with a date of March 1946 after the war had ended. The British could have just tossed mail like this into a bonfire and destroyed it. I find it very interesting that they kept it in storage and passed it on its way many years later. They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter!
Linus
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re: World War II
Great thread everyone and quite informative. One could never imagine the volume and type of mail that was processed during the war. A lifetime study all by itself, would be an understatement really. Fantastic material.
Chimo
Bujutsu
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re: World War II
Bujutsu - Thank you for the kind words. Phil's post about covers having "character" inspired me to dig this cover out. The wrinkles in this cover make me think of it being jammed in a bag of mail, piled in a mountain of mail bags. This cover just oozes with "character."
Linus
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re: World War II
like so many dents in Phil's truck
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re: World War II
the landings were early in the morning; the French were 6 hours ahead of the time in DC; and this is a late evening PM. The cover was likely printed months earlier. Dieppe, while a disaster, was a portent of bigger things to come. And the invasion was no surprise to anyone; only where and when, neither of which is addressed (honest, no pun) on the cover
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re: World War II
"... They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter! ..."
Perhaps not. At some point, mail from Italy to the USA would have been routed thru a neutral country (Switzerland, Spain, Portugal) or not posted at all (perhaps best for the sender).
Great cover.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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re: World War II
ikeyPikey - Thanks for the kind words about my cover.
During World War II, the United Kingdom employed about 10,000 censor staff. British censorship was primarily based in the Littlewoods football pools building in Liverpool with nearly 20 other censor stations around the country. Additionally the British censored colonial and dominion mail at censor stations in the following places:
Dominions: Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia (not a dominion but supervised by the Dominion office) and Union of South Africa
Colonies: Aden, Antigua, Ascension Island, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, Ceylon, Cyprus, Dominica, Egypt, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Gold Coast, Grenada, British Guiana, British Honduras, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaya, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, New Hebrides, Nigeria, North Borneo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Palestine, Penang, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, British Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tanganyika, Trinidad, Tonga, Uganda, Virgin Islands and Zanzibar.
All I am saying, ikey, is they had a big building to store censored mail, and a lot of people working on the task.
Linus
Source: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia
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re: World War II
Here is another cover from my collection that was held for over a year, then returned to sender. It was mailed August 8, 1940 from New York City, New York, USA to Bordeaux, France. It arrived back in New York September 19, 1941, not delivered because of the war, but NOT censored also. I am not sure why it was not opened by censors.
Linus
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re: World War II
"... All I am saying, ikey, is they had a big building to store censored mail, and a lot of people working on the task ..."
Agreed ... but censored is not embargoed.
Our point-of-origin (see yours of 18/Mar) was a cover from Italy to NYC, posted in 1940 and delivered in 1946.
"... I find it very interesting that they kept it in storage and passed it on its way many years later. They must of had a mountain of mail held back and stored along with this letter! ..."
Mail from Italy to NYC, posted from 1941 thru 1945, would not have traveled thru the UK and, therefor, would not have been subject to British censorship or embargo and, therefor, would not have filled UK warehouses.
More likely, it would have traveled thru Lisbon, or Zurich, or not at all.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who agrees that there was lots of mail reviewed by British censors during the conflict, but suspects that very little of it was Axis-to-America)
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re: World War II
ikeyPikey -
Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. If only these old covers could tell us their stories...
Linus
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re: World War II
"... If only these old covers could tell us their stories ..."
Veterinarians (just ask pigdoc) like to point-out that their diagnostic skills must be superior to MDs because their patients can't tell them what's bothering them.
OTOH, the vets' patients don't lie ... so maybe that evens things up.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who is fond of saying that "every cover tells a story")
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"the landings were early in the morning; the French were 6 hours ahead of the time in DC; and this is a late evening PM. The cover was likely printed months earlier. "
Or uncacheted covers could have been quickly stamped for the occasion and cacheted later on. I did that on a number of occasions
Back in 1976 I did 500 of these. There had been complaints in Linn's Stamp News that the stamp was being issued in Belleville (at the Clara Maass Hospital) instead of at her birthplace on her birthday. So the week of June 28th, I bought a box of 500 of the postal stationary and ran them up to the East Orange post office on the appointed date.
The cachets were applied by my regular printer sometime after that, along with my usual batch that I sold unserviced prior to issue date, then serviced after issue date.
I went to the first day at the Belleville post office and stood there and stamped close to 1,000 covers that day! I still have loads of these if anyone wants one!
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01:33:55am
re: World War II
The Milne Bay from Papua New Guinea is a beauty, very collectable
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Bumping this old topic to show the club a recent addition to my WWII topical collection. I do not usually buy USA new issue first day covers, but I made an exception, as I had to get this one to go along with the 442nd Infantry postcard in my collection. (as seen earlier in this thread.)
Linus
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Just noticed. The two censored/returned pieces were the same company. Hmmmm.
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Yes, same company, and both were purchased from a man selling $1 covers at a stamp show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Linus
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The United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
Yesterday, it was 80 years ago that happened, and I was listening to stories about that day on the radio, only to learn something I did not know.
The USS Arizona is still considered an active ship is the United States Navy, it has never been decommissioned, and it never will be, due to one reason...
The crew is still onboard.
Linus
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thanks for telling us; I diddn't know that either
would that be true for all submarines lost at sea?
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I don't know, David.
I heard that fact about the USS Arizona on the WHO radio program "Our American Stories" with Lee Habeeb.
Linus
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That's very interesting.
I believe the oldest commissioned ship is HMS Victory which has been in dry dock for almost a hundred years and the oldest one still afloat is the USS Constitution.
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According to the US government's National Parks Service for the USS Arizona;
"Contrary to popular belief, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission."
Here is the website -
https://www.nps.gov/perl/learn/historyculture/uss-arizona.htm
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I guess you can't believe what you hear on the radio anymore, thanks for setting the record straight, I would not want to mislead anyone.
Linus
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Nowadays, hard to know who or what to believe, news-wise AND facts-wise.
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