Quote from Jamie Smith on July 21, 2020, 9:32 am

Interesting, I really need to see the cover before trying to interpret it.  At this point just a few comments.

'R' usually stands for Royal.  the 'QA' can be Queen Alexandria's or Regimental Quartermaster. The 'FF' worries me as the only interpretation that comes to mind is Frontier Force  from W.A.F.F. who had been in the area earlier in the war. 

The next thing to look at is military females in Mombasa at the time.  There were Wrens, Waafs, Fanies and probably the Q.A's .  The Wrens were involved with the R.N. and the extension of Betchley Park de-coding Japanese code.  there were also South African nurses at the military hospitals.  The Waafs were probably at Port Reitz which was a R.A.F. camp, (the Polish Waafs might have been there as well but I only know of them at Nairobi where there were 200 of them).  The F.A.N.Y. (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry) although non-military wore a uniform and were involved in nursing, intelligence and as dispatch riders.  They all had to get there and most likely by ship. 

Can we have a scan please,  in the meantime I will check the acronym with a friend of mine

Jamie.

Quote from Steve on July 21, 2020, 10:50 am

I prefer 'Regimental Quartermaster' though I have nothing to prove this.  I have never heard of a 'Royal Quartermaster'. I imagine I might if ever I was invited to one of HM the Queen's garden parties.

I propose  'Regimental Quartermaster Auxillary Field Force'. This is based on a preferred assumption, not a little bit of knowledge which in this case would be less of a dangerous thing. I think that the cachet with 'Bechuana' is the key. The sheet says that "Coy 1986 served as labor company in Syria, Egypt, Palestine. Feb? 1943 – March 1946". This is substantial info. It would be helpful to find the source for that.

This link has some good info on Coy 1986. See: http://www.thuto.org/ubh/bw/ww/wwp2.htm

Quote from Jamie Smith on July 21, 2020, 11:30 am

Thanks  to Steve I now have the scan but am still in the clouds.  All I have found out is that the sender (who's name I can't read was a member of the A.T.S.  ( Auxiliary Territorial Service), the number was one of the series W1 - 500,ooo which were used by the ATS.   And that the A.P.O. given in the sender's address is a large number and as far as I am aware only the Americans used such large numbers, there are a few on their APO list beginning with  '4' but not A.P.O. 4545.  The Americans did have APO 626 in Nairobi during part of the war but I know nothing about the Americans in Kenya during WW2 other than while I was there (1960-63) a flying fortress came in to Embakasi while I was on airport guard duties and they were on a 'trip down memory lane'.  Can anyone else add anything like by looking the person's number up and getting the sender's name.  My search knowledge doesn't extend that far!

Jamie.

Quote from pthy@ucdavis.edu on July 21, 2020, 9:05 pm

Thanks Jamie

The APO 4545 is a transition code. Will be replaced with a physical APO address when arrived at destination. 

Does the W prefix to the service number for woman?

I discovered that the enclosed letter also exists. It is attached here as a pdf file. Interesting reading about stops in West Africa, Cape Town, rail to Durban, and ...

She could not have been attached the Coy 1986 since the APC not include women, but she could have been headed for some of the administrative units in Egypt. Or she could just have got a ride with the ship that transported the Bechuanaland company.

Again thanks for your comments. 

Peter

 

Quote from Jamie Smith on July 22, 2020, 8:06 am

Peter, Thanks for letter.  Regarding the 'W' Prefix I got the information from the Internet but can't find it now!  

Jamie.

 

Quote from Jamie Smith on July 23, 2020, 2:35 pm

Peter, My friend couldn't help other than to say the Imperial War Museum may be able to help if given the girl's number (Service NOT Telephone!).

Jamie.