1942 Cover To Po Box 43 Guantánamo Bay Cover

Can any one tell me anything about PO box 43 at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay. So far I have not turned up anything on line. Basically I would like some info about the Canadian forces there.

Also the letter is addressed to a Sub ?Lieutenant? (I cannot read the writing but also cannot think it could be anything else) R M McCallum. Are there any online sources where I could find out anything about him. It just makes the cover more interesting if there is some personal history.

Finally on the censor marking what is the significance of the letters DB. I assume that the C40 is a Canadian censors number



The only mark on the back is a Havana machine arrival stamp dated 30th September.

AQ

Possibly it was a ship on shore leave in Cuba.

During World War II a number of Royal Canadian Navy personnel were stationed at the U.S. Navy's operating base at Guantanamo. I do not believe that Box 43 has any significance other than a box for the receipt of personal mail, common at most U.S. military installations.

Perhaps someone more expert in Canada/USA arrangements at that time can confirm or otherwise but, I think the US postal authorities would have delivered this cover even though posted in Canada. The correct rate should have been the USA rate of 10 cents so giving rise to the postage due marking.

The due charge would have been applied in Canada. In 1942 the airmail rate from Canada to Cuba was 10 cents for a quarter of an ounce so the letter was short paid 1 cent. At a conversion rate of 1 cent = 5 UPU gold centimes the charge of 10 centimes is correct.

Would not the 10c rate have been set by the US postal Service and they passed on the information regarding rates to Canada for implementation? The US did nearly all North American airmail,I believe, and the letter would have gone to New York then Miami then to Cuba using the FAM 5 route of the US Postal Service. I'm not an expert so am asking for information as I am very interested in all Postage Due items.

According to my reference this was a Canadian postage rate. I have the book by Smith & Wawrukiewicz and also some information from the Web. S & W does have some errors and is also not a complete listing of all the rates but it does seem to cover many of them.

I did make a mistake when I said the rate was 10c for each quarter ounce it should have been for each half ounce. According to S & W this rate applied to West Indies. Mexico , Cuba. Central America and British Guiana from 1937 to 1944.

This web site is a fund of info.
http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot.co.uk
Sadly the author died in an accident earlier this year but the site is still up. One of the nicest people I never met IRL. For how long I have no idea.

Also there are a lot of back numbers of journals available on line. To see the most recent you have to be a member but the earlier ones are freely available. You just have to find the info in them. I am slowly building my own index but it is taking ages.
http://www.bnaps.org/
http://www.canadianpsgb.org.uk/
http://www.rpsc.org/tcp/cp1950.php

and there may be others I have not found. If anyone knows of any please let me know.

AQ

I have two 1942 covers from Montreal to Guantanamo, also addressed to McCallum, but both of these bear 20c postage. Apparently they weighed more than 1/2 ounce.

Thanks very much for that info. It was just what I was looking for and I had no idea that sort of thing was available. I wonder how many other institutions have the same.

After you posted your reply I did a search for R. M. McCallum but did not find the info you had. I did come across this page
http://www.naval-history.net/index.htm
which I will bookmark for future reference.
and then
http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php
You could spend hours reading all that. Fascinating !

A.Q.