|
This was a meeting of many delights, but sadly following the recent trend of few attendees, featuring many items rarely seen and some for the first time. It mainly covered the period from the latter part of the Second World War to the present day, although not necessarily in chronological order, starting with covers of the 8 Base Army Post Office in 1943 following with other British FPOs in NW Europe: 361, 352, 804, 899, 893. There were items from the peace-keeping forces in the former parts of Yugoslavia following its break up in the 1990s. Contingents of UNPROFOR and Operation Deny Flight with covers from the Forces of Ukraine, Canada, Netherlands and Germany. British forces in Croatia were represented with covers from FPO 1029 and 1052. The stabilisation forces of SFOR had covers from USA FPO 09780 and Dutch Veldpost 77 and also shown was a cover used in Bosnia by British forces FPO 1027 dated February 2003. A cover was shown from the British involvement in Sierra Leone as part of the UN mission (UNAMSIL). Departing from the modern theme Michael also showed some DRLS Army Signals telegraph message forms and covers 1916-1947. The most exciting part of the display was section N.A.T.O. at a Glance. That such material existed at all was new to some of those present and it started with a cover addressed to E. Jagger from NATO HQ with NATO HQ Paris meter mark of 15 May 1957, enclosing the autograph of Lord Ismay, the first NATO Secretary General. Various covers from the NATO HQ at Evere, Brussels showing various meter marks and other post marks. A cover from FPO 513 of the British Forces Post Office at Brussels was shown, also one from the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) in Luxembourg. Other covers were shown from SHAPE, 1959 onwards, including FPO 950 dated October 1956 and HQ Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH). For the various anniversaries of NATO special covers and stamps were produced and shown were ones for the 20th, 40th, etc. A cover of the North Atlantic Council Ministerial Meeting 12-14 May 1964 at The Hague with a special cachet was shown. Bringing us up to date with the still evolving changes in the political structures of Europe was a cover with a cachet of the Albania Partnership for Peace dated 25 April 1999. A great display again reaffirming that interesting postal history does not stop at the nineteenth century, or even at the end of the twentieth century. |