South Vietnamese Naval Post Card

Picture postcards like this one were given out for free on the ship HQ 04, the Tuy Dong in the early 1970s. They may have been available on other ships as well.

The postcard depicts the Tuy Dong and HQ 07, the Dong Da II. It was sent by a First Lieutenant on board HQ 09, the Ky Hoa, on 26 Feb 1972 operating from KBC 6678. It is stamped with a nice HQ 09 cachet.

Ministry of Defense Draft Notice

This document was sent without an enclosure in September 1973 by the Ministry of Defense, Joint Chief of Staff, Administrative Department, Recruitment (KBC 4211).

The document informs the recipient of a change in his draft status. He was previously exempted from the draft for health reasons, but the review board has determined that he is fit for duty. He will soon receive a request to report to the draft center for review.

New SVN Military Insignia Added to Web Site

I just made some updates to the military insignia section of my web site. Click on a thumbnail to go directly to the page for that insignia. I still need to fill in some detail about these covers.

Unified National Assembly Hand Stamp

In 1976, a hand stamp was produced to announce the elections for a "Unified National Assembly" to take place on 25 April. The result of this first assembly was the creation of a single country in July under the banner of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


The hand stamp is typically found in red ink on commemorative covers franked with Mien Nam (MN) stamps as shown in the illustration above. The text reads, "Vietnam Independence, United Socialist Ideology, 25-4-1976, Ho Chi Minh City." A variation, from Hanoi, is found on commemorative covers franked with North Vietnamese stamps.

The second cover (below) shows a postally used military cover with the hand stamp applied in black ink, which is unusual. The marking was applied in transit, ostensibly on April 25th (the cover is backstamped a couple of days later).

The red, boxed marking says, "Every voter go vote." This is the first example I have seen with either marking on a commercial military cover.

Purple Flower Parachute (Airborne) Cover

I plan on working up an article on the Vietnamese Airborne Division (Nhay Du) with a complete list of related KBC numbers when I have time. I cannot believe how busy I have been this summer.

This cover is a new acquisition. The sender is from the "Purple Flower Parachute" company (DD Hoa Dzu Tim) of the 2nd Airborne Battalion serviced by KBC 4247. I can only imagine what they must have looked like dropping from the sky if the company name was a reflection of reality!

The recipient was a member of the 1st Airborne Battalion (KBC 4563). Who could resist the linked dog tags outlining the addresses on this cover? The cover was sent in June 1974, postage free as was allowed for mail between military units.

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I will be at the APS StampShow in Portland, Oregon on Thursday August 9th.

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.