Vietnam War postal rates

Does anyone have access to USPS data about postal rates for servicemen
in "combat zones" during the Vietnam War?

In the Vanpex exhibit I mentioned in my earlier post today, I will be
including covers that I mailed during training at Camp Pendleton, from
the U.S.S. Magoffin in the middle of the Pacific, and from Okinawa,
where my battalion trained for five months before embarking for
Vietnam. All of those covers are franked for the six-cent airmail rate
of the period. However, after we embarked on the U.S.S. Paul Revere
and headed for Vietnam, my letters are all free-franked.

The earliest of the free-franked covers was postmarked Jan. 27 when we
were still at sea, probably in interntional waters (my battalion made
an amphibious landing in Operation Double Eagle on Jan. 28). All of my
covers and postcards from Vietnam are free franked, and covers posted
after I was wounded are free-franked; they include one from the
hospital ship U.S.S. Repose and several from Balboa Naval Hospital in
San Diego. I assume that as a wounded veteran, I qualified for free
postage, but it would be useful to see the regulations.

I did not realize that I had these covers until about two years ago
when I was going through a box of stuff looking for something else
unrelated to philately. What a treasure trove! Unfortunately, I also
found many letters without covers.... :-(

It's interesting to note that Australian and New Zealand "coalition"
troops in Vietnam did not apparently have free-franking privileges.
Australia even produced a special booklet of stamps for use in Vietnam
containing stamps with special "tropical" gum. I don't know what the
situation was with Korean and Philippines troops since I have not been
able to find any covers representing their presence in Vietnam.

Bob

On Apr 22, 10:24 am, Bobstamp wrote:
Does anyone have access to USPS data about postal rates for servicemen
in "combat zones" during the Vietnam War?

In the Vanpex exhibit I mentioned in my earlier post today, I will be
including covers that I mailed during training at Camp Pendleton, from
the U.S.S. Magoffin in the middle of the Pacific, and from Okinawa,
where my battalion trained for five months before embarking for
Vietnam. All of those covers are franked for the six-cent airmail rate
of the period. However, after we embarked on the U.S.S. Paul Revere
and headed for Vietnam, my letters are all free-franked.

The earliest of the free-franked covers was postmarked Jan. 27 when we
were still at sea, probably in interntional waters (my battalion made
an amphibious landing in Operation Double Eagle on Jan. 28). All of my
covers and postcards from Vietnam are free franked, and covers posted
after I was wounded are free-franked; they include one from the
hospital ship U.S.S. Repose and several from Balboa Naval Hospital in
San Diego. I assume that as a wounded veteran, I qualified for free
postage, but it would be useful to see the regulations.

I did not realize that I had these covers until about two years ago
when I was going through a box of stuff looking for something else
unrelated to philately. What a treasure trove! Unfortunately, I also
found many letters without covers.... :-(

It's interesting to note that Australian and New Zealand "coalition"
troops in Vietnam did not apparently have free-franking privileges.
Australia even produced a special booklet of stamps for use in Vietnam
containing stamps with special "tropical" gum. I don't know what the
situation was with Korean and Philippines troops since I have not been
able to find any covers representing their presence in Vietnam.

Bob

Free Mail for servicepersons in Vietnam took effect on Sept. 1, 1965
and continued until the last servicepersons left the country. The Free
Mail zone was the same as the Combat Zone that authorized Combat Pay
and income tax exemption, which was the country of Vietnam and (for
the Navy) an area ranging about 50 miles offshore. Despite the
availability of free mail, some people, especially at first, did not
trust that such mail would be sent back by air and still used airmail
stamps. Eventually the tropical climate ruined the gum on stamps and
when I arrived there in 1967 I'm not even sure the post office had any
stamps in stock, at least not ordinary 8-cent airmail stamps for
letters. From 1966 Free Mail also applied to sound recordings (there
were recording studios to make tapes), but I've never seen an example
of that elisuve bit of postal history. Special services (registry
etc.) and parcel post were not free. Most of the Free Mail regulations
over the years have extended the privilege to wounded service
personnel in hospitals outside of the Combat Zone, but the standard
reference (Beecher & Wawrukiewicz) does not give any specific
citations. Such mail is much scarcer than Combat Zone mail and usually
has some endorsement to verify authorization for the privilege.