Those who have viewed
my Zoom
presentation on April 20, 2021, know that I collect postal history
items of ‘C’Force and its forerunners. In a nutshell, and highly
simplified for those who are not stamp collectors, collecting postal
history means collecting the covers one uses to send letters.
Let me rewind back to the 2016 HKVCA event at University of Toronto’s
Hong Kong Library at the Robarts Library, where I had a chance to meet
family members of Brigadier John Lawson. When I asked about what he had
left behind, I was told that a family member had possession of related
items, but there was no motivation to reveal what these were and no
access for others to study them. After hearing this comment, I came to
the realization that I might never get to see, let alone own, a
Brigadier’s cover.
(Lawson signature on back of cover. Photo by Sam Chiu. Published by
permission)
In November 2023, I was overjoyed when I was offered exactly that, a
Brigadier’s cover. I was already scheduled to fly to Hong Kong later
that month. At the HKVCA Zoom meeting in November, I was so anxious and
wanted to tell anyone about this but did not, as I had still not
received the cover in the mail.
For me as a collector and philatelic exhibitor, it was of paramount
importance that I had to have a cover from the Brigadier in my exhibit.
Obviously because of his status as the highest ranking official and
commander of ‘C’-Force. Before this, I only had covers/cards from the
rank of Major.
What is the “big deal” about this cover? After looking at what is
available in’C’Force collections in Canada and worldwide for over 30
years, there had been no record of a cover written by the Brigadier in
private hands. When you look at the date of the postmark of this letter,
it was November 28, 1941. The relevance of this date is, after November
29, 1941, no ‘C’Force mail could have left Hong Kong. The last ship that
carried mail, before the Japanese attack, eastbound to the US would have
sailed. All other ‘C’Force mail that was sent after this date would have
been “Detained” in Hong Kong until after the war. This applied to both
airmail and surface mail. The Brigadier’s cover was paying a postage of
20 cents, which was for a surface letter. The last Clipper flight which
brought mail from HK to Manila and then onwards to the US and Canada,
would have also flown on the morning of November 30. So, this cover
would have been the last letter from the Brigadier that was sent to
Canada. If there were other covers written by the Brigadier, these would
have been “Detained in Hong Kong” and would only have been forwarded to
his family after the war ended in September 1945. Then there was also a
highly probable scenario that the Japanese knowing these were written by
the Brigadier might have been selectively destroyed.
The cover was addressed to Colonel L.W. Miller. Colonel Lawerence
Walter Miller was later promoted to Brigadier, but soon retired on June
30, 1942. The dealer who was selling Miller’s correspondence knew that I
collected ‘C’Force postal history and had the smarts to approach me with
this cover. He told me it was the only HK item in Brigadier Miller’s
correspondence. It is because this cover was not addressed to Brigadier
Lawson’s family and therefore not in the possession of the family member
who is still holding the rest of his belongings.
(Front of envelope. Photo by Sam Chiu. Published by
permission)
On my trip to HK last November, I had planned to take back five
covers of ‘C’Force members who were buried there, or their names were on
the columns at the gate leading to the graves, as three of them were
MIAs. Now I am bringing back a sixth.
There has been an effort by younger philatelists to make collecting
stamps more relevant to them. Graham Beck created what is known as
“Extremely Philately”, which is the practice of taking a photo with a
stamp in the foreground and the background would be what the stamp used
in its design. I am taking this one step forward. I am bringing a cover
or card, or letter back to the grave site of a C-Force soldier/officer,
using the item as the foreground and the grave, or his name on a column,
as the background. Should this be called “Extreme Postal History”? I did
even more than that. I took a video of me holding the items and doing a
short narration.
(Envelope at Lawson's gravesite. Photo by Sam Chiu. Published by
permission)
I cannot help but get emotional at the grave site as you can see in
what I wrote in an article in the Hong Kong Philately Society’s Journal
about this discovery.
As a Chinese collector, I have been told by many senior philatelists
before me, including Dr. Shiu-Hon Chan, about “Philatelic fate or
destiny” “郵缘”. That it has been written in the stars that I get to see
and, Heaven forbid, even to own a cover written by the Brigadier. I
apologize if I am getting too philosophical about this.
The HKVCA has kindly put my video at the Brigadier’s grave site on
their YouTube channel.
This got me thinking. Would adding what I have in my collection of
‘C’Force members add value and knowledge to the HKVCA website? I then
approached Mike Babin with an offer. I can supply all that I have of
‘C’-Force members to the website. These are not just limited to
covers/cards from or addressed to ‘C’Force members. For example, there
are the four pencil-written lists of casualties that Private Duncan
Benton WG had documented. Mike agrees and brings in our webmaster Jim
Trick to work with me on this project. Subject to Jim’s guidance, in the
coming months, I will supply Jim with images of material that I own of
40 C-Force members. This will include five other videos that I took
while I visited Sai Wan Cemetery. He will then put these in another area
(new?) on the website.
Mike
Babin 
Jim
Trick
Sam
Chiu PhD.
Carol Hadley
Shelagh Purcell
