Allied troops, P.O.W. and workers in Great Britain during WW2.
Yannis, I find the two covers most interesting especially the first one. I don't remember seeing Cypriot military mail before and I have collected Italian East Africa for many years and I have never heard of Cypriot forces in Ethiopia. Were did that information come from? I am interested to follow it through. I prefer covers with a bit of character and a story to tell.
About the missing stamp, I know people, especially kids mutilated covers in an effort to add stamps to their 'stamp' collections but I like to blame the censors! Makes the cover more interesting. What you have put up is exactly what I was hoping for when I began putting this type of material up - now I am learning!
Thank you.
Jamie.
Jamie
To be honest, I never heard of the Regiment serving in Ethiopia, either. I got some info from this paper that seems reliable. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14930189.pdf
I am also posting the other three covers (not written-up yet). The two to France, must have been in the owner's bag when they evacuated France. The Regiment then was posted to Mowbray and then moved to Egypt.
Cannot find any info where the Genufa Camp No. 44 was. Any idea?
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An Item from my GB WW2 collection together with a question! Was Great Britain involved in training Russian merchant or military seamen?
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Back to my own little corner! Doesn't anyone want to join me for what is now becoming my daily posting? today I am showing Australian airmen stationed in Great Britain... one cover in and one cover out.
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Post of the day! Still with allied troops in UK. New Zealand. Not easy to find only have these two covers.
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To keep this ticking over, today I am posting Belgium in exile in UK. Not easy to find!
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Today, I am adding another another piece of the British-South America jigsaw - (I know Guatemala is Central America but it fits into the South American W.W. II jigsaw). The big question that this cover raises is were British military personal in Guatemala? There was a need for information from that country because of all the German nationals living there and the need to protect Venezuelan Oil. The question. Is this cover diplomatic or military?????????
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I suspect Diplomatic and Military! I thought to research the recipient in Wikipedia. It appears that Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Reginald Lindsay Benson, DSO, MVO, MC (20 August 1889 – 26 September 1968), known as Rex Benson, was an English merchant banker and army officer. There are several references to him being a spy or working in the intelligence gathering services. After he recovered from being gassed in 1915 in WW1, he was appointed as liaison officer to the French Minister of Marine, but he was unofficially a representative of the head of the British secret service. He served in Ireland during the Easter Rising (1916). He was a British liaison officer to Marshal Petain. The French awarded him the Croix de Guerre and appointed him a member of the Légion d'honneur. He was Chief of the British Mission at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. As Military Secretary to the Governor of Bombay, he assisted with organising the Prince of Wales's 1922 tour. He resigned from the Army thereafter, but was placed on a secret mission by the Prime Minister David Lloyd George to trade with the Soviet Union. In the inter-war years he lost and made a fortune. He made regular business trips to North America. His banking career in the family firm was interrupted by the Second World War, when he served as liaison officer to the French First Army until the evacuation from Dunkirk, and then as chairman of the Inter-Allied Timber Commission in 1940, and then from 1941 as Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Washington. He was kighted in 1958. Conclusion: He was a spy. Your letter was all in his day's work!
Thank you Steve! I am now cross with myself for not looking the recipient up myself (which I normally do). I was concentrating on the South American aspect and so took my eye off the ball. Your findings show how important this site is! Two old brains + are always better than one in 'lock-down'.
For today's post I going to post another country that was involved in the UK during WW II - The Yanks!
My home town was Stratford-on-Avon and because of all the hotels Stratford became the home for many thousands of American soldiers. I remember stopping many of them (along with other kids) and using that famous line "Got eny gum, chum?" One of the highlights of their stay in Stratford was the Boston bomber that was 'parked' on the forecourt of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. We kids were allowed to climb the steps, pass through the plane and exit by the cockpit (I wonder if any photographs exist?). Incidentally not all American's visit Stratford for Shakespeare, it is also the home of 'Harvard House'.
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U.S.A. continued.
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