Vietnamese Navy Seahorse Insignia Cover

It is rare for me to come across a new insignia on a South Vietnamese military cover these days, but every now and then I am pleasantly surprised. 

This cover has several things going for it (in addition to the lovely mint paper color):

1. Crisp military insignia and name of the ship in the corner card
2. Triangular officer KBC cachet with the HQ number
3. It was sent between military KBC postal zones

HQ-14 was the hull number of the Van Kiep II, a Patrol Craft Escort of World War II vintage, formerly the USS Amherst and acquired by the Vietnamese Navy in 1970. At the end of the Vietnam War she regrouped with other naval vessels near Con Son Island, then made her way to Subic Bay on May 8, 1975. She later resurfaced under the Philippine Navy.

While the postmark is illegible, the enclosed letter dates the usage as June 1974. The letter was sent  from a naval officer to the Naval Medical Facility in Saigon at KBC 4595.

You can view more military covers with insignia on my website.

SP 4103 Cachet

I am indebted to Pierre Pepin of Philatelie et Aviation Militaire for discovering this cover and sending it to me. 

The cover, postmarked 29 Nov 1953, is struck with a nice Secteur Postal / Le Vaguemestre hand stamp. The digits at the bottom matches the sender's return address of SP 4103. The style of this hand stamp is a bit different from others I have seen, so I was happy to add it to my collection.

As I've noted before, French postal zones utilized five-digit Secteur Postal numbers to obscure a unit’s designation and location. Under American advisement, the Vietnamese adopted a four-digit Khu Buu Chinh (KBC) code system that served the same purpose. During the transitional period of 1952-1956, one finds various combinations of French and Vietnamese text on the postal markings and addresses of military covers. 

I was able to locate the listing for KBC 4103 in the tome Danh-Luc Buu-Khu (1970) and identify it as serving the 2/43 Infantry Battalion headquartered Long Khanh within Long Nai Province in the southeastern section of Vietnam. While there's no guarantee that SP 4103 was in the same location in 1953, I'd say the chances are pretty good in was in generally the same area. 

As always, if anyone has has more information, please add a comment to this post or email me directly.

OSS Det. 202 in Kunming, China

In 1945, the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was aligned with Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese in Indo-china. 

Headquartered with the 14th Air Force in Kunming, China, OSS Detachment 202 monitored and influenced activity in the region. A small number of the OSS actually operated within Indo-china and met directly with the Viet Minh. 

Over the past decade I have located two OSS covers from APO 627 in Kunming shown below.

The first cover was sent by Victor Jabson on March 19, 1945 enjoyed free-franking privileges. The enclosed letter is cut in half vertically. It seems innocuous enough, but perhaps the military censor took issue with some of the contents.

Victor writes, "I have seen so many interesting things that I could write volume after volume but I think I [would] rather wait until I come back and then we can have an old fashioned get together with beer, oysters and all the other good things we used to have at our meetings."

The second cover was sent by Jerome Wisniewski, from the HQ & HQ Detachment operating out of China. It was mailed on Aug 20, 1945 - less than a week after Japan's surrender in World War II and two weeks before Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence on September 2.

This is a fascinating and complicated era of Vietnamese history. To learn more I recommend:

The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan by Dixee R. Bartholomew-Feis

Why Vietnam? Prelude to America's Albatross by Archimedes L.A. Patti

Vietnam 1945: The Quest for Power by David G. Marr

Season's Greetings

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas, and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Similar greetings were sent in 1962 from ARVN Brigadier General Van Thanh Cao and his wife to Major Giertsen of the Strategic Hamlets Division. The card was sent postage free via APO 143.

General Cao headed up 'Operation Sunrise' that oversaw the creation of three strategic hamlets in Binh Duong Province earlier that year. Ultimately, around 14,000 such hamlets were created throughout South Vietnam and populated with forcibly relocated peasants before the program was dismantled in early 1964.

Help Wanted

I need help completing my collection of North Vietnamese military stamps on cover. I have some ideas for a series of articles and maybe an exhibit, but I'd like to have an example of each before I get started.

I don't think this the rarest of the NVN military issues on cover - I'd probably give that distinction to the very first military issue, one of the ocher-colored medal stamps, or perhaps this stamp's twin, the olive-colored waterwheel stamp with the medal completely shaded. However, I found examples of each of those on cover, so maybe I'm wrong. For some reason the brown 'invalids on waterwheel' stamp has eluded me.

I'm looking for a cover like this one:

It has to be tied with a genuine postmark that has a legible year date prior to 1975, although a contemporary date from 1959 or the early 1960s would be terrific. Other than that, I'm not too particular on condition or anything else.

Let me know if you have one you can sell or trade.

You can reach me at imnaha at optimumonline dot net or by posting a comment to this blog entry.

Thanks!

NVN Red Leaping Soldier Stamp on Cover - 1966

I periodically upgrade the covers in my collection with ones that are in better condition, show a more interesting usage, have historical context or simply have more eye appeal. Case in point is the cover shown here. My previous example of this stamp on cover had a roughly opened edge and a 1978 usage, despite the stamp being issued in 1965 (after the war ended in 1975, the military used reserve stocks of stamps until they were exhausted).

In addition to the contemporary postmark from 1966 and the military return address, the cachet appealed to me as I had not seen in before.

I reached out to my friend, Vinh Nguyen, who quickly translated the cover's details. The cachet reads, Vừa sản xuất vừa chiến đấu, that translates as "Produce While Fighting". The central circular logo bears the phrase, chống mỹ cứu nước meaning, "Fight the US aggressors to safeguard our country."

The recipient is a traditional medicine doctor at the Thai Binh provincial medical department. This was not a hospital, but rather the medical department of the province.

The hand-written text at the bottom reads, "Medical department, please forward to Doctor Cúc, traditional medicine, to where here department is temporarily evacuated."


All in all an interesting cover that I am happy to add to my collection.

Vietnam Postal First Days

Typical First Day Covers (FDCs) mark the initial distribution of a postage stamp. These covers mark the first days of other postal events.

This cover, created by a member of the Air Force Advisory Team 2 (AFAT-2) commemorates the free-franking privilege going into effect for American military personnel on September 1, 1965.

The Department of the Army provided this information to new arrivals in Vietnam:

Free mail service went into effect 1 September 1965 for all military personnel serving in Vietnam and adjacent waters. Personal letters, letter size tape recordings and post cards in their generally accepted form are entitled to free transit. Letters sent under this free mail policy will be handled as US air mail. Your full military address to include name, rank, and service number must appear on the envelope. The word FREE in the upper right hand corner must be in YOUR handwriting. It cannot be typed or mechanically marked.

Mail may be sent free to the Foreign countries. Letters so mailed cannot be registered. They may be sent special delivery if an additional special delivery charge is paid. The words "Postage Paid" or "Port Paye" must be stamped in the upper right hand corner. APO will perform this service. Handwritten or type written lettering is not acceptable.

Packages under 5 pounds sent regular mail will, whenever possible, be handled via Air Mail between Saigon and the San Francisco Post Office.

April 1, 1967 was the first day of use of a QUAN-BUU machine cancel by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). 

At least I believe this to be a FDC of this machine cancel. Does anyone have any example of an earlier use?

New Zealand Forces in Vietnam

In May 1965, New Zealand announced its decision to deploy a combat force to Vietnam including a 105-mm howitzer battery, replacing an engineer platoon and surgical team deployed the previous year. The unit was attached to the US 173rd Airborne Brigade under MACV command, with the primary mission of supporting Australian forces in Phuoc Tuy Province. 

In November, 1967, New Zealand and Australian forces entered a working arrangement to reimburse the United States military for services and support including base camp construction, transportation within Vietnam and military postal facilities that included a closed pouch system for all personal and official mail.

The illustrated cover, sent via the US APO postal service was sent to England, under-franked with 10-cents postage and assessed 3-pence postage due.
 The sender was one of 18 members of the New Zealand Army Detachment headquartered in Saigon. Total in-country strength of New Zealand forces at this time was 534. 

The small number of personnel in Vietnam makes mail sent by NZ units less plentiful than that of their Australian and Korean counterparts. It should also be somewhat less plentiful than mail from Thai allied forces. I have not found that to the the case, and it is reflected in the significantly higher market prices for Thai material related to the Vietnam War.

Strength of Military Assistance Forces in Vietnam in 1967 (US Department of the Army):

Australia: 6,818

Korea: 47,829
New Zealand: 534

Thailand: 6,005

Philippines: 2,020

Republic of China: 31

Spain: 13

SP 4736 Cachet / NAPEX

This cover has a neat oval 4-digit Secteur Postal 4736 handstamp and would have made a nice inclusion in the presentation I gave at NAPEX last year. This is an example of a transitional marking with French text but that includes a 4-digit Vietnamese Khu Buu Chinh zone number. Note the use of the KBC abbreviation in the address line. The recipient appears to have been at KBC 3011, the Vietnamese Air Force general headquarters in Tan Son Nhut.

Speaking of NAPEX, I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the Society of Indo-china Philatelists annual meeting in McLean, VA next Saturday.

Le Minh Dao Cover from KBC 4027

In January 2009, I illustrated two covers sent by Le Minh Dao. I was fortunate to acquire another cover (two-thirds of one at any rate) sent by Le Minh Dao from KBC 4027, the National Military Academy in Dalat, to Le Hoang Minh via the Quan-Buu military post. The postmark year date is illegible, but I am going to guess it is November 1956. The blue KBC cachet is unusual in both its color and size.

The envelope contained several small portrait photos. Can anyone confirm if these depict Le Minh Dao as a young man?

Below, Le Minh Dao is shown in this photo together with Ho tan Phat at the opening ceremony of the Cho Gao Electricity company.

VNAF Insignia Cover

I enjoy collecting insignia on Vietnam War military covers, so was pleased to recently find one from the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF). The handstamp on the cover, shown at right, was obviously applied by hand from a rubber stamp - once on the front and three times on the reverse of the envelope. I'd love to find an example of a pre-printed, full-color insignia like the one on the left, but I'll take what I can get (this is the first example of a VNAF insignia I've seen after 12 years of collecting this material).

The cover was sent from KBC 3198 that served the Vietnamese 1st Air Division in Da Nang. From the return address, the sender was with the 41st Tactical Wing (Khong Doan Chien Thuat), 512th Flying Squadron. This is the first reference I've seen to this squadron.

The postmark is illegible, but the cover is probably from 1966 or 1967 based on the stamp.

NKP Airbase APO 96310

Shown is a cover from APO 96310 located at the Nakhon Phanom (Royal Thai) Air Base in Thailand, on the border with Laos. The United States flew reconnaissance flights over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and covert ground support missions over Laos from this base during the Vietnam War.

NKP Air Base also corresponds with Operational Location 23-27 as shown in the address ("OL 23-27"). The postmark reads Jun 20 1969.

Thanks to a reader, "CMR" in the return address has been identified as "Consolidate Mail Room"

Map image source: http://aircommandoman.tripod.com/

Feedback Requested on Abbreviations

This post includes several covers that include an abbreviation that I have struggled with, either due to the handwriting or because I am simply unfamiliar with the usage. I would appreciate feedback or suggestions on these items.

C.A.A.T.
The return address of this cover from M.A.A.G. (Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam). includes the abbreviation "C.A.A.T." Searching Google I was able to come up with two candidates: "Combined Anti-Armor Team" or "Combined Arms Assault Team." The former, a Marines unit, seems more prevalent and thus more likely.


CORDS
This is an example of questionable handwriting. I assume the return address reads "CORDS /IV" standing for "Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, IV Corps", but I cannot help thinking it looks more like "COBOS," which does not seem to mean anything. The rest of the address reads "Advisory Team 75, My Tho, Vietnam."


ARMA
This cover is from the US Embassy in Vientiane, Laos. The return address is written in pencil and partially obscured with something that looks almost like White-Out. The name appears to be "Captain W.R. Healy" and the next row is "(?)ARMA". If I assume the first character was intentially wiped out (and the sender got a bit sloppy with his name above), ARMA likely stands for the "Army Attache" which was involved in programs like Project 404 in Laos. I have tried searching with other letters in the abbreviation, e.g. SARMA, DARMA, OARMA but to no avail. Thoughts?


K.V.K.
Presumably a Vietnamese term, the abbreviation "K.V.K." has me stumped. Identification might provide some more information about the type of unit served by KBC 4076.

On Dec 1st and anonymous contributor identified the abbreviation as meaning "Kho Vu Khi" or ammunition dump


Click on the covers for larger images. Thanks for your help!
Andrew

Urgent Rifle Brigade Cover 1947

Shown is a turned cover (disassembled, turned inside out and reassembled for use) sent via the French military postal service in Indo-china. Based on the My Tho back stamp, the year was 1947. A hand stamp in the upper left reads "KHAN (Urgent)". In the lower right is the unit cachet of a rifle brigade.

I am less familiar with French material than Vietnamese and I have a couple of questions that I am hoping readers can answer.

1) Is the notation in the upper left corner a shorthand return address (M919/4B)?

Philippe Drillien writes,

I do not think it's a return address. According to the French regulation, every French administration must own two books . In the first one, you must write, every day, all the mail you receive; each mail is given a number of arrival; often, the number is preceded or followed by one or more letters. Usually, the letter concerns the service or the name of the addressee. The second book is for the mail you send and works according to the same way. M919/4B could mean:

It is the 919th mail registered by the secretary M. It has been written by 4B

2) The last word in the top portion of the unit cachet is unclear (after Tirailleurs). Perhaps Algeriens?

QUAN-BUU 1 Postmark 1956

In my article, Vietnam 1955: Military Postal History in a Year of Transition, in the March 2008 issue of the Indo-china Philatelist, I referenced numeric QUAN BUU markings 1,2,4,5 and 8, in addition to the number '7' marking that was the primary subject of the article.

Shown is a tan registered mailing receipt from a sender at KBC 4218 within I Corps.

The pink form appears to be a declaration of value for the contents of the letter. Of note is the QUAN BUU 1 postmark on the back of the form, dated 26 November 1956.


The abbreviation "CTTT" in the address on the pink form is spelled out in the address on the tan form as "Cong Thu va Tao Tac." This roughly translates as "Corps of Engineers". "Cong Thu" literally means "government buildings" and "Tao Tac" literally means "buildings and construction." (Thanks, Vinh for decoding these!)

Sea Eagles - Vietnamese 8th Marine Battalion

This cover, adorned with a picture of children with rain coats and bunny rabbits, was sent from the Vietnamese 8th Marines Battalion in Thu Duc at KBC 6618. The sender was apparently out on an operation as indicated by the "H/Q" (hanh quan) in the return address.

The addressee was aboard a Naval "Landing Craft Utility" class ship, with hull number 543. Mail was directed to this ship via KBC 3328, the Naval Fleet Headquarters in Saigon.

Military Construction and Supply Correspondence

KBC 3126 was assigned to a construction unit (Kien Tao). The preceding letter 'D' in the return address probably stands for "Doi" (small group) or "Doan" (large group). The recipient was a member of Supply Group 61 (Lien Doan 61 Tiep Lieu) associated with the 6th Air Division at KBC 3533. A 1.50d stamp pays the military letter rate, although mail between KBCs should have been sent postage free.

RVNAF Military Postal Service

I just obtained a copy of the Indochina Monograph series The RVNAF by Lt. General Dong Van Khuyen. Buried in the center of this 400 page document are three pages on the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces military postal service.

Some key items of interest:

By 1966 the Military Post Office Center (formerly the Directorate of Military Post Office) controlled 29 post annexes which served more than 1,500 KBC units and addresses. In 1973 there were 40 annexes servicing more than 3,000 KBC units.

The most frequent shortcoming in the military postal service was the time the mail took to reach the responsible person or beneficiary. An extensive investigation .... revealed that the delay did not take place between one KBC and another as many servicemen had thought, but primarily between the sending unit and the original KBC or annex, and between the destination KBC or annex and the receiving unit. The delay was also caused by the unit's internal distribution system.

There was also a lack of coordination between the unit and the area logistics command to have the KBC changed in case of [a] long-term operation outside the military region.

As for mail security, several measures were taken to prevent loss or interception. Mailmen, with proper security clearances, were chosen from good and reliable personnel. Each mailman was issued a register to record the receiving and delivery of mail, which was daily inspected by the chief of the mail and message section. Each mailman was also issued a leather case with lock for carrying mail in transit.

The book was reprinted by and is available from Dalley Book Service in Virginia. They have also reprinted a number of other military titles, including Bernard Fall's The Viet Minh Regime and Documents Relating to British Involvement in the Indo-china Conflict 1945-1965 originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Tell George I sent you!

3rd Infantry Division Cover

This cover was sent from a member of the Vietnamese Armed Forces 3d Infantry Division (3 Bo Binh) at KBC 6534. Nhac Doan is a group in charge of the military band and other entertainment.

Mobilie Riverine Military Police

This cover is addressed to a Mobile Riverine Military Police Officer in Phong Dinh province in the 4th military zone. It was sent on 26 November 1970 from Trinh Chi Hieu, Class 5 Radio Operator, Company 4 Specialist Battalion at the Naval Training Center in Nha Trang or aboard a ship that reported to Naval headquarters (KBC 3318).

A 3d stamp pays the military postage rate (half the civilian rate). Had the recipient been considered military, the letter could have travelled postage free. MPs were considered military in the sense that they had their own KBC numbers, but no KBC was used in this case.