US Army War Graves Registration, Saigon 1946

In August, 1946 the US Army sent the War Graves Registration to Saigon. Lieutenant Irving Wendt and his team were on assignment in SE Asia looking for the bodies and graves of downed pilots and other victims of World War II.

The only military personnel killed in action during this period that I am aware of was Lt. Colonel Peter Dewey of the OSS. Dewey had been in Vietnam only three weeks as part of project Embankment. He was killed at a Vietnamese checkpoint in an unmarked vehicle while waiting for a his delayed flight to Ceylon.

The first cover was sent by Lt. Wendt in Saigon 20 August 1946. The second, a post card, was sent by him from the Netherlands Indies the following February. On the reverse he talks a bit about his work - and suffering a dog bite as an occupational hazard.

Hua Hin Airfield Construction Company 1956

In 1956, a US Army Engineer Heavy Construction Company was tasked with constructing and expanding the Hua Hin Airfield in Thailand in anticipation of build up in Indo-china. The airfield was later used for covert flights into Laos. This cover was sent by Captain John T. Myers at APO 74, Box "B" (Bangkok) to Corvalis, Oregon.

Thanks to Bob Munshower for the background information on this cover.

Crab Insignia cover - update

Back in December I posted a request for more information about a cover with a crab insignia. Here is a quick summary of what I have learned.

The cover is related to the Phoenix program. It was sent from the "Rung Chi Linh" training facility in Vung Tau built for the Binh Dinh Nong Program. Paramilitary police also trained here. "Rung Chi Linh" is printed on the inside of the letter sheet, so the crab is definitely the program's insignia.

As you can tell from some of my posts I am spending time focusing on US Forces, especially early involvement (1945-1964) and material related to covert operations - both US and Vietnamese. If you have interesting items to sell/trade, let me know.

Special Operations Augmentation

Special Operations Augmentation (SOA) provided cover for the clandestine Studies and Operations Group (SOG). The recipient was a member of SOA Command and Control South, 5th Special Forces Group Airborne. This group formed the core of SOG ground missions. SOG ran highly classified sabotage and psychological and special operations in North and South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China.

The cover was sent Registered mail from Thailand in September 1970. The rubber stamp marking on the cover front simply reads "Air Mail" in English and Thai script.

ROK White Horse Registered Cover

The Korea Philately journal apparently hasn't been published in a while, so my request for assistance identifying ROK covers is still with the editor. I will try some other avenues to get info. In the mean time, I picked up some new ROK forces covers at NAPEX. I will add them to my web site when I have a chance.

The illustrated cover has what I assume is a registry label affixed. I haven't seen this before.

Naval Officer Training Center in Rhode Island

Selected officer candidates in the Vietnamese Navy attended the Naval Officer Training Center in Rhode Island. This cover was sent in 1973.

A typical training program went like this: Quang Trung Training Center for basic training. If you tested high for English aptitude, you were sent to the Boat School in Saigon where you were taught English by U.S. Navy and civilian contractors. Some Finns even taught English here. Students were housed in two large ships anchored in the Saigon River in front of the Vietnamese Naval Headquarters. Those who did well at Boat School went on to train as officers. During the "Vietnamization" period, the high number of candidates resulted in some being trained in Australia.

VNNOC = "Vietnam Navy Officer Candidate"
IOCS = "International Officer Candidate School"

Thanks to Vinh Nguyen for this information.

KBC 4304 Soc Trang Airbase Cover 1953

This cover was sent from the sergeant in charge of personnel at Soc Trang Air Base southeast of Can Tho on 24 November 1953. The fledgling Vietnamese Air Force was still under French command at this time.

The red unit cachet carries the abbreviation "S.P." or Sector Postal in French. A Sector Postal was the equivalent of the American A.P.O. address and had five digits. The number on this cachet has four digits (4304), reflecting the new Vietnamese KBC numbering system.

Note the sender used the abbreviation "KBC" in the return address. Four-digit Sector Postal hand stamps were in use for only a couple of years.

Vietnamese Merchant Marine School Cover

The date on this cover appears to be 1953. It is definitely from the French period during the early 1950s. The printed return address on this cover reads:

State of Viet Nam

Education Ministry

Vietnamese Sea Transport/Merchant Marine School

According to Vinh Nguyen who served with the Vietnamese Navy:

"This school is where the French trained the Vietnamese to serve in various functions on their ships. This school was later turned over to the Vietnamese and in operation for many years. After the French left Indo-china the South Vietnamese Navy was founded and inherited a number of warships from the French. In order to build up the Navy the government began recruiting mariners from this school."

The recipient was a second mechanic aboard the French ship Pigneau De Bihaine. The address is appended, "Saigon."

The French abbreviation S.M.E.O. means (thanks Philippe):

S means "Service" (or Society)
M means "Maritime"
E.O means "Extrême Orient"

The red hand stamp reads:

Quoc Gia Viet Nam: "State of Viet Nam"

Hang Hai Hoc Hieu: "Merchant Marine School"

Hieu Truong: "School Principal" (office of).

NAPEX

I have a backlog of material to research, post to this blog and write up for the Indochina Philatelist, but spring is here and I just can't seem to stay out of the yard. I'll post some more things soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to mention that I will be at NAPEX on Saturday, June 2nd in time for the SICP annual meeting. I look forward to seeing everyone who can make it.

Registry and Urgent Delivery Rates on Military Covers

An "M3" style letter sheet with a Registry label is shown front and back. The cover was sent on 15 Nov 1972 franked with 24 dong in stamps - in addition to the military free-frank stamp printed on the letter sheet.

The registry rate was 15d through November 1972. How to account for the additional 9d in postage? In this case, the free-frank stamp apparently did not cover the basic letter rate. The military letter rate was 5d and the civilian rate was 10d. The domestic air mail rate was 18d. Any ideas how the 9d was calculated - or was the amount paid simply incorrect?

The second cover, sent express or for "urgent" delivery was sent from the Vietnamese 8th Marine Battalion at KBC 6618 on 9 August 1973. The cover is franked with 50 dong in postage, covering 10d for the civilian letter rate and 40d for express service.


Thanks to John Carroll for the updated rate tables.

2500 Planes Shot Down FDC

There is nothing subtle about a lot of Communist Vietnamese propaganda produced during the American war. A series of "plane shot down" stamps commemorate, over the course of several sets, the mounting tally of American and allied planes brought down. According to the propagandists, by the time these two stamps were issued on 6 November, 1967 2,500 planes had met their fiery demise.

The hand-stamped cachet/cancel, shown in both red and black, depicts a B-52 bomber with the tail aflame.

I have not previously seen a First Day Cover of this issue.

Aviation Investors

Aviation Investors was a civilian front for the CIA and its operational company, Vietnam Air Transport, was used to conduct Operation Haylift. More on this later, but here is a cover from 1962 from an R.F. McGrath "Aviation Investors, Inc."

Helgoland Cover with German Stamps

I have an article in the current Indo-china Philatelist Journal (#177) on the German hospital ship Helgoland that served in Vietnam during the war. The covers illustrated in the article are franked with Vietnamese stamps. Here is one franked with German stamps - or more accurately, "has German stamps affixed and canceled" as it is completely philatelic in nature. The cachet also differs from the ones shown with the article.

Mien Nam Military Cover with Red Postmark

The abbreviation "M.N." on this postmark stands for Mien Nam, as the Communist regime referred to the "southern region" or liberated areas of South Vietnam.

The use of red ink is unusual, but the main appeal to me is its use in conjunction with a military stamp. Mien Nam postmarks typically canceled Mien Nam stamps, such as the ones depicting Ho Chi Minh watering a tree. Military stamps and M.N. postmarks are not often found together.

Tuy Phuoc is near Quy Nhon, and near the site of Champa towers built centuries ago.




UPDATE: This cover is a fake. For whatever reason I was only paying attention to the postmark and the fact that it was applied to a military stamp, but I didn't recognize the obvious - that the stamp was issued in 1982. Thanks to Ta Phi Long and John Carroll for noticing and calling it to my attention.

1947 Cover to Colonel Gardet from Laos

I am looking for some feedback on the return address of this cover. Postmarked April 1947, the cover was sent to Roger Gardet in France, who later served as a general in Indo-china.

From what I can decipher, the return address reads:

Adjunct Chef (Chief Warrant Officer) Maurgouet(?)
Transmission (signal)
Forces du Laos
S.P. 54.035
B.P.M. 411

Any corrections to my interpretation?

What units were operating in Laos at this time that could have been the source of this correspondence?