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This was a very successful meeting which attracted some 30 members, many of whom had not attended before or who had been infrequent visitors as well, of course, our regulars. We also had five apologies from members who would otherwise have attended. Prior to the main displays we had a number of smaller displays by members. These included Chris King on Schleswig-Holstein. Chris explained the complex military involvement in Schleswig-Holstein during the 19th Century and illustrated this with military mail of the period, including some very fine and rare illustrated stationery. Graham Mark showed POW items from 1914-19 to highlight his forthcoming book on "Prisoners of War in British hands during WWI"; these included items from Hadnall and Holyport; a parcel card to Jersey; Knockaloe in the Isle of Man; items from his own locality of Sandhill Park, Taunton and the labour camp at Stanhope, Co Durham. Peter Burrows showed a hotch-potch of items with a POW theme including letter bundle labels to camps in England and India and also a WW2 item with Aliens Officer Deal cachet. Michael Dobbs showed Army Signals and related items WW1 to WW2 and also had on show an actual example of an Army Signals datestamp. Eddie Weeks showed WW1 POW mail from prisoners aboard requisitioned liners off the English coast. The display told the story of the nine liners (not hulks) requisitioned to hold POWs as an interim measure until camps could be established elsewhere in the UK. We held the President's Cup Competition around midday which attracted nine entries - an appropriate number for a nine sheet competition ! Our guest speaker Graham Reynolds was declared the winner with "Allied Prisoners of War and Internees in Japanese Occupied Borneo 1942-45" which showed mails (cards and covers) from and to the POWs in Kuching and Sandaken. Edmund Hall came second with his "Anglo-Boer War 1900 onwards" which showed British APO 17 and two locally produced rubber cancels; two covers showing censorship and a Ladysmith siege cover as well as several items from Colonial forces: Canada, Ceylon, local and Imperial forces; also Boer Veld-post marks and a cover with a cachet of Deutsches Commando. Third was Eddie Weeks with his "Zeppelin Mail - World War 1" - during WW1 the German army and navy operated some 130 airships which were used as either bombers or for reconnaissance. Most airships had "Kommando" handstamps with the airship number which was used on mail from the crew indicating that the sender was entitled to free postage. However, these cachets were not used frequently as cards and covers were usually sent as normal "Feldpost". The other entries were Peter High with his "The Danish Hospital Ship 'Jutlandia' in Korea 1950-53" - at the outbreak of war in Korea in June 1950 the Danish government hired the passenger liner 'Jutlandia' from the shipping company 'OK' and converted her in just 100 days into a hospital ship. She was placed at the disposal of the United Nations, operated by the Danish Red Cross and funded by the Danish government. She sailed from Copenhagen on 23 January 1951 and arrived in Korea on 10 March. For the following 2 1/2 years she served in South Korea and returned to Europe only for provisions and repairs. I show 10 covers and cards sent from 'Jutlandia' during her three voyages to Korea. John Leathes with "Something a Little Different" - stretching the rules at little, "psychological leaflets" might be said to include propaganda labels - a.k.a. Cinderella's ! Although sometimes seen on covers they are seldom seen and considered in their own right. This exhibit presents this material as a small specialist look at German U-Boat Army labels during the First World War. Nick Colley with his "Dutch Navy in Exile, 1940-45" - a display showing examples of Dutch naval mail; during the period 1940-45. Keith Tranmer with his "Austro-Hungarian Navy pre-1914 mail" - an exhibit showing cachets and named datestamps from ships in various parts of the world. Frank Schofield with his "BAPO Italy (1917-20)" - A Base Army Post Office datestamp was never issued to the Base at Arquata, Italy. When it first opened on 10th November 1917 it was designated APO S101 and a temporary skeleton datestamp was used. Between 8th and 10th December 1917, a period of only three days, a temporary datestamp APO L1 was used. On 11th December 1917 a distinctive double ring datestamp APO S101 came into use and finally on 22nd June 1918 the office was redesignated APO L1. Examples of each of the datestamps mentioned were exhibited. Peter O'Keeffe with his "Kreigsgefangenen Post" showing POW covers, cards and letter sheets used to and from Germany during WW2. After lunch we came to the main part of the day - an invited display by award winning member Graham Reynolds on "Prisoner of War and Repatriation mails". Graham started off with POW mails in Europe showing different routes and rates such mails took from POWs to the UK. Also included were Christmas cards from 1941 and 1942 and then he went on to show a large variety of Colditz items (to the delight of Mike Booker !) including a card from the first registered Colditz prisoner - a Polish POW named Lieutenant Commander M Adamowicz. The Colditz display also included a number of Christmas cards produced by the POWs themselves (including a Dutch card). Then we came to mail from POWs of the Japanese. Here Graham showed items from Changi, Singapore to Australia and also a variety of postal stationery mail sent to the POWs. Also shown was a radio cable received by an Australian POW in Changi in December 1944. Displayed was mail to and from civilian internees in Singapore. The he gave a selection of items from prisoners in camps in Java during the period 1942-45 and mail from POWs in both Borneo and Thailand. A fascinating part of the display was items which contained "secret" writings - a message written on a small piece of cigarette paper and inserted between the layers of a thick postcard. There was also a French Colditz item where the writer used greaseproof paper to write a secret message over an item of mail - the indentations on the paper could be highlighted when it reached its destination. The display covered cards and letters sent from all areas overrun by the Japanese in the Far East - Hong Kong with mail from both military and civilian internment camps; Red Cross mail and POW postal stationery; Sumatra under Malayan administration; a card from Manchuria (where all captured senior officers - brigadiers and above - were mainly sent). Graham showed the only recorded telegram that he know of sent by a POW and received in the UK - he believed that only around 300 telegrams in total were sent by POWs. He showed items from Canadian POWs held in Japan who had been captured in Hong Kong. Also mail from prisoners captured by German raiders who were then handed over to the Japanese to hold - these were some of the first POWs in Japan. He showed broadcast messages transmitted by the Japanese and picked up in Australia which were then sent to the UK by airgraph. Graham explained that in many cases mail was given to prisoners as a reward for good behaviour or good work, but it was not uncommon for a pile of mail to be burnt before prisoners eyes for lack of progress or as a punishment for bad behaviour. The Japanese used mail as an instrument of mental torture - withholding it from POWs without any provocation. One of the final items he showed was a letter written by a former British staff sergeant at Hoten War Prisoners Camp in Mukden, Manchuria - it was written on 19 August 1945, just four days after the Japanese surrender and was sent to the UK via USA. |