Need Help With Vj-Day Ship Cancel On Crosby Cover

I've got a couple of catalogs of APO listings, but not for FPO's or ship cancellations. Can anyone help me identify the ship or FPO for this cover?



Basil

Probably not much help, but try here: http://bluejacket.com/usn-usmc_ww2_...n-codes.html ... or here: http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.p...=1108&page=1

both suggest [FPO NY?] 930 (if it is in fact an FPO) is Kunming China.

Another possibility (My GUESS) is that the cover is from the document signing ceremony aboard the USS Missouri based on the comment at the bottom of the cover and the date - 2 Sep 1945, in which case 930 might be a time stamp.

According to Wikipedia: "The formal surrender occurred on September 2, 1945 around 9 a.m. Tokyo time, when representatives from the Empire of Japan signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri." So "930" could be right after the event concluded.

That's very helpful. Not being familiar at all with Navy or ship cancellations, I did wonder if the 930 was an FPO number. But I suspect that you are right that it is just the time of day. But I seriously doubt that it was postmarked aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. Crosby was based in San Pedro, CA, and would have ample access to a navy location there to get this canceled on Sep. 2nd, 1945. I also have a cover with the same cachet, dated Aug 14, 1945 (the day of actual surrender), with a San Pedro postmark.

I agree that the 930 is just the time of day, and also that this cover likely never went anywhere near Japan. Getting courtesy cancels on a huge stack of these in California is the most likely answer given the lack of any ship's name in the cancel or any location in between the killer bars.

Kimo, thanks for the observations.

KGB, thanks for the link. I purchased the cover, because it has a different postmark than the Aug 14 cover I already have with that cachet.

Basil

Nice cover, Basil.