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?

South Vietnam Military Postal Rates in 1972

This cover has several aspects that set it apart from typical ARVN training covers of the period.

It was sent by a soldier training at the Thu Duc Infantry School (KBC 4100) in 1972 on a piece of United Nations stationery. He was in the 5th class of 1972 (Khoa 5/72). I am guessing that TBTX is an abbreviation for "Tham Bao Thien Xa" or Recon Unit Sharpshooter. Tell me if you think I am completely off the mark.

Despite the western (or at least American) style lines in the upper left corner for a return address, the sender created a triangle in the lower left corner typical of Vietnamese military correspondence.

The stamp, a coil version of the King Quang Trung stamp (Scott 411a) pays a 6d rate from a military personnel to a civilian address. A Quan Buu machine postmark cancels the stamp.


The sender wanted to make sure the return correspondence was properly addressed, so inside he drew up what the envelope should look like, including the addition of 10d postage.

Based on this cover, postage rates in August 1972 were 6d from military personnel and 10d sent to military personnel. The 10d rate is common, but I don't recall seeing a 6d rate. I need to dig through my covers to see if I have others I have forgotten about. Or of course the sender might have just gotten away with using a cheaper stamp.

Jim G. Lucas - Journalist

A 25-year reporter for Scripps-Howard as a Washington and foreign correspondent, Jim Griffing Lucas won the Pulitzer prize for journalism in 1954. He was selected for Ernie Pyle awards during the Korean War in 1953, and the Vietnam War in 1964. No stranger to adventure, he was a member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1947 Expedition to the South Pole. Mr. Lucas was buried in Oklahoma in 1970 and honored in his hometown of Checotah with the library named in his honor.

This cover was sent from Hanoi on 12 May 1954 by Jim Lucas as a member of the "Camp de Presse". Presumably Lucas was reporting on the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The French had fallen to Vo Nguyen Giap's forces less than a week before this cover was posted.

The recipient, Clark H. Getts, was a public relations counsel and booking agent.

National Police Training Center

Sent in 1960, this cover contains a love letter from a woman in Khanh Hoi to her boyfriend at the National Police Training Center in Vung Tau.

The Rach Dua training center, under Colonel Nguyen Van Be trained police (Canh Sat Quoc Gia), undercover police and youth member forces.

Garde Nationale Thai Binh

This cover sent in 1952 by a sergeant, "Le Commandant" of the Thai Binh, National Guard ("Garde Nationale") Nord-Vietnam. Thai Binh is located about 20 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin and not far from the Red River, Southeast of Hanoi.

The cover is from a group of covers sent to a language institute in Paris that I picked up at the Washington 2006 show.

 

NVN Military Stamp Wanted on Cover

I am looking for a copy of the brown "invalids on water wheel" North Vietnamese military stamp postally used on cover with a clear cancel. Ideally it will be used around the time the stamp was issued, but anything before April 30, 1975 would be okay. Please contact me if you have one to sell or trade.