The Fuellner Letters
16 March 1943
The story of this letter starts at 16 March 1943:
Clearly a letter from a stamp collector. I don't know how John Frederick Fueller did
it (maybe a bottle of red wine for the postmaster): A registered letter to San
Francisco to his wife with a complete set of the French France Libre chiffre taxe
stamps. The set is cancelled with PCH type 36, the first English Santo cancel.
The reverse of this letter:
A handstamp says "Passed by naval censor" and a handwriting tells us: "Released
at Postal Office APO 502, July 16, 1945 by chief Base Censor (sig unreadable)". The arrival
cancels are from Jul 16, 1945 from San Francisco, Jul 19, 1945 San Francisco,
Jul 20, 1945 San Francisco, Jul 21 SF and Jul 23, 1945 Menlo Park. Another handwriting
says "came July 23 - 1945".
16 March 1943
...and in the cover:
The letter is censored by the same officer who placed his censor mark on the
reverse of the cover.
It says: "Hello ....., Just a word to let you know that everything is fine except
the weather. Was ashore this afternoon and nearly got wet in a heavy shower.
Plenty of mud here, nice yellow and loamy. Need plenty of tropical clothes in
this neck of the woods. It's nice and hot in the sun and not much cool in the
shade. Wish I had some nice cold Lucky Lager or Olympia Beer. Well, save this nice
cover, it will come in handy. Regards to all our friend! Love John.
Letter
Snippet 1
...and what else was in it?
1) A piece of paper from a sewing machine stiched form from the post office
with name and address of the addressee, the registration number 715 and another
cancel with the covers date 16 March, 43.
Snippet 2
...and what else was in it?
2) A simple machine written piece of paper saying "This letter was retained by
U.S. Army censorship in the interests of military security. Its release is now
authorized."
My friend "SeSi" has a twin of the above cover in his collection: same day, same adressee, same two pieces of paper about the delay but without the letter.
16 March 1943
(new 8/2019)
Nearly identical (except franking) to the cover above.
16 March 1943
10 September 1945
I found this b/w copy of another cover from John Frederick Fuellner in an old dealer offer of 1988.
Not to his wife this time and very generously franked: with 17 Franc Gold, the three highest values of the 1938 series.
It is registered in Santo and cancelled with the Santo registration cachet and additionally (for ease of numbering I think)
there is a VILA registration label affixed: the one with the wide V I L A writing. I don't know who owns this cover now.
Seen on Ebay: At end of 1945 or January 1946 Fuellner was in China with the S.S. "Joseph M. Carey". This letter arrived at Menlo Park on February 4, 1946.
1945-46
The Max London Cards
1 February 1943
1 February 1943
(new 4 April 2020)
1 February 1943
(new 4 April 2020)
The reverse of the card shows
the following text:
Feb. 2, 1943
"Dear Miss Hilmes,
Have made three new
ports already this trip. none
of them large or fameous.
but all H.O.T. How I
would like to see a couple of
those old Seattle Blizzards
again
As ever
Max London
(Words marked with an x are bold)
Snippet
A simple machine written piece of paper saying "This letter was retained by U.S. Army censorship in the interests of military security. Its release is now authorized."
The Kepner Letter
7 January 1943
7 January 1943
Snippet
Letter
Paul Howard Kepner was born on August 22, 1905 in La Clede, Fayette, Illinois. So in 1943 he was already 38 years old: He died on May 27, 1992 in Alexandria, Virginia.
The addressee, Paul's brother, Richard Eugene Demonbrun Kepner (also De Monbrun), came to Hawaii on October 1, 1929, in March 1935, in 1938 and in 1941. He worked there as a neurologist and psychiatrist. He was born January 16, 1903 in La Clede, Fayette, Illinois. In 1940 he lived with his Swiss wife and 2 daughters in Koolaupoko, Oahu, Honolulu. He died in April 1976.
The parents of the two were Dr. Melvin Elmer Kepner (1871 -1908) and Jessie Jackson Kepner née De Monbrun (1884 - 1944).
Paul H. Kepner in 1960