This was an afternoon meeting held at the Union Jack Club - we had ten members present which was not a great number compared to what we used to get pre-covid. We had a good turn-out in January with 15 members present. What can we do to get you, especially those who either live within the Greater London boundary or within easy travelling distance from Waterloo, to come to our meetings? Failure to have a decent attendance may mean we will have to reduce the number of meetings (currently one per month, excluding August). Come on members, show your support - if we are not displaying material of your interest please do tell us and our Programme Secretary will try and resolve that. We do need your support.
Michael Dobbs started the session with a display of pre D-Day mail then a small selection of Forces mail from France following D-Day, including covers postmarked by 8 Base Army Post Office. He showed a selection of ephemera, including an Allied “Safe Conduct” pass for German soldiers, a copy of a “Personal Message from the C-in-C” (Montgomery) to be read out to all troops and various 1944 unit Christmas cards. He then showed and reminded members of his “Operation Overlord - 50th Anniversary of D Day” article together with Nick Colley’s article on “RAF Censorship and Operation Overlord” in our Summer 1994 Newsletter, the “Operation Overlord” publication by Brigadier Holmes and finally an extract of his researches entitled “The Royal Navy on Land in North West Europe” which included the Naval shore organisation in Normandy, Numbered Naval Parties in NW Europe and the allocation of ships names to Naval Shore Establishments.
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Geoff Hanney showed a frame of United States forces mail mainly from offices based in United Kingdom around the period of the Normandy campaign. The majority came from the late Bill Collingwood collection. There was a single cover from a hospital in Naples with query as addressed to 127th Battalion, 80th Regiment in camp in the US which has not been found to date in the American order of battle.
Lorraine Maguire told the members that New Zealand troops were not involved in the D-Day Invasion, but reminded them that at that time the 2nd NZEF were fighting their way up through Italy, through Monte Cassino, to Rome and finally to Trieste. She did however show five philatelic covers, celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the capture of Pegasus Bridge. From her large collection of postcards she showed two issued for the same celebration and then four of the landings and cemeteries gathered when she and her husband toured the Normandy Beaches over 40 years ago. Lorraine also had three small booklets which the members were able to view with many interesting pictures and articles.
Under the heading “The RAF and the Liberation of NW Europe, 1944-45” Nick Colley’s display exhibited the different censor types used by the two forces into which Fighter Command was split in readiness for the landings in France to liberate NW Europe - Type R11 for the Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) and Type R7 for the 2nd Tactical Air Force (2TAF). He demonstrated the geographical limitations in the UK - largely in accordance with the coastal security zone. This had been designated between Boston and Aberystwyth, and from Wick to Edinburgh, and was set at 10 miles wide. The change with time from, initially, normal civilian postmarks, to security-style cancellations, for example the numbered triangle inspectors’ marks as the date of the landings approached, was also demonstrated. He went on to follow the movement of 2TAF from the UK to the Continent as the liberation process (and our land forces) moved forward, shown by the abrupt change from UK postmarks to FPOs. Examples from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway were shown. He even managed to include not only a couple of items from the Fleet Air Arm which had received RAF censors, but also a cover from 6 Squadron of the Netherlands Air Force.
Last to show was Peter Burrows who started with a cover postmarked US Army Postal Service #1 on 6th June 1944, reported to have been on Omaha Beach, but most likely manufactured by Captain Frank Teixira, who served with the 18th Infantry, which had stormed the beach at 9.30am. This was followed by an impressive collection of covers, stamps, and postmarks celebrating D-Day, starting with British and French covers commemorating the 10th Anniversary. The American Artcraft printed covers for D-Day but the USPS have only printed one stamp showing the D-Day landing on the “1944 Road to Victory” sheet, then the Churchill Society produced a cover for the 40th Anniversary postmarked Normandy Beach, New Jersey, on 6th June 1984. France produced postcards and covers for the 10th Anniversary using Liberation stamps overprinted for Algeria, Afrique Occidentale, and Togo. It was not until 1969 that France issued their first D-Day stamp, followed in 1974 with the start of a series of stamps, maxi cards, and covers. The 50th Anniversary saw numerous countries issued stamps and covers, these included Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Marshall Islands, Runcorn Local post, and Turks & Caicos Islands. He also showed various covers with commemorative coins, including two with £5 Guernsey coins. The 60th Anniversary saw stamps and covers issued by Antigua, Dominica, The Gambia, Grenada, and St Vincent. He finished with the 75th Anniversary Royal Mail miniature sheets first day covers.
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