US WWII Treasure Trove

Visiting a friend this weekend I was presented with a bag full of World War 2 era soldier's mail (all from one soldier).
Nice stack of APO cancels, airmails, censor opened, soldier franked, etiquettes. Many still have correspondence inside.
I'll be sorting through these for a while.



Will post some individual covers as I find them.

Here's a couple made me go 'Oooooh' right away.

I agree with you!! 'Oooooh' !

That's an amazing collection of covers. You'll be able to track this persons travels through the war,and I imagine if this person fought in the field you could track their movement through major battles.


There's no such thing as a minor battle.

What's the erliest letter you have James?

One example of the free franking soldiers were entitled to.



The back shows USO logo.



The one or two letters I've read speak mainly of boredom. They are all written to his parents.
Later envelopes (1950s+) are mainly to his girlfriend/wife.

The earliest envelope seems to be this 1913 addressed to Dad. It contains a wedding invitation.



The airmail posted above with the C11 is probably pre war, but alas, the cancel has no year, and there's no letter inside.
Of the APOs most seem to be from 1945 and later. Can't say yet if he saw action (bad for us, probably good for him) but he does write of being on a troop ship.

Here are two catalogs pertaining to your hoard; these are my older editions, and I'm sure newer editions exist:

1. Catalog of United States Naval Postmarks, 5th Edition, 1997, published by the Universal Ship Cancellation Society.

2. Geographic Locations of U.S. APOs, 1941-1984, 5th Edition, 1985, published by the War Cover Club (now known as the Military Postal History Society; see www.militaryphs.org/pubs/pub.html).

Very nice group of covers jamesw.

As you state, you will be some time getting them organized.

Chimo

Bujutsu

The cancel on the C11 has a year date, it appears to be in the left "5", which makes it difficult to see. Might be 1931.

The C11 is 1930.

The 5c domestic air mail rate was in effect from August 1, 1928 to July 5, 1932 so there is a very high probability that the C11 cover is pre-war.

I'm not sure why the second cover in the original post was marked "Due 6 Cents" as the effective rate when it was mailed was 8c per ounce.

You're right Russ, and revcollector. The year is 1930. I didn't even see that there. Once again, learned something new!
Thanks much.


Also, I did find an APO from 1944, so the gentlemans military career started around then.

Looks like apo 903 was in ryuku, Japan in late 1945. Priced at 20.00 at postalhistory.com

Managed to sort the army correspondence chronologically (the other half of the horde is from his lady friend - I'll sort those later).
Read a few , and the predominant factor is boredom. He speaks a lot about the censors, and how he can't reveal much. A couple of the letters have dates and locations cut out of them.
I thought this was the most interesting. Postmarked June 26, 1945 the letter has had it's date removed, and the entire centre cut out, the rest taped together.
Guess Jack was feeling talkative that day.



Another letter dated September 6 (it was in an envelope postmarked March 1, 1946, so I think it had been 'misfiled') states that censorship is no longer concern 'so we can tell everything'.
Jack is now stationed at Naha Airfield. Cadena and Yontan airfields are nearby. He was involved in a campaign which captured Machinato Airfield. He speaks of troups being transported for the occupation of Tokyo. And his p.s. at the end of the letter states "Some of our first combat mission were to China and Shanghai."
He, himself, will be shipped out to Hawaii in 60 days.
A little stack of history, right here.

Another quick question, for the experts.
The later postmarks (October 1945 and on), instead of APO, have 7-BPO.
What does this indicate?

An example...

BPO = Base Post Office

Wow James that looks like a wealth of history and a great time pouring over it all! That's just a wonderful score as you well know! Congrats.