Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I googled Snedeker's rank and name and promptly entered the land of Serendip, and in about 9 seconds found a detailed biography and obituary.
Snedeker fought at Guadalcanal in the Second World War, commanded the 7th Marine Division for the assault on Okinawa, fought in several battles in Korea, including the first one, the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter, and went on to become commandant of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, finally retired two years before President Johnson made his fatal mistake of becoming involved in Vietnam's civil war. Do I choose good covers or what?!
Bob
*The division I served with in Vietnam.
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That is a great cover Bob! The Internet has made it easy to do all kinds of research we never could in the good old days.
My father, a US Army Major, was stationed in Korea in 1968. Even then this was a 12 month hardship tour, my mother, sister and I lived in New Jersey while he was away!
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Lt. Gen. Snedeker's obituary includes a memoir by another Marine Corps officer, who wrote, “…here was a man who left for war in 1942 and essentially came back to two grown daughters and two teenagers.” His wife’s experiences during that time must certainly have been similar to the family hardship that Tom mentions in the previous post.
My own maternal grandmother and my father and uncle had a similar experience in 1916,Texas to guard against incursions by Pancho Villa’s banditos after their attack on Columbus, New Mexico. He lost his job and was gone for some six months, during which time my grandmother was reduced to begging for food from neighbours.
And here’s a panorama photo of Grandpa Ingraham's company, taken at Pharr, Texas; he's the soldier in the yellow oval :
Grandpa Ingraham in his uniform, cropped from panorama photo of his company:
This real-photo postcard of my grandmother, my father and his older brother was taken during that time and was apparently sent as an enclosure in a letter to my gran father:
Grandpa Ingraham returned safely to New York, after enduring months of heat and poor sanitation. They never engaged Mexicans in combat, and never entered Mexico, like Pershing's "Punitive Expedition" did. Many of the National Guard soldiers became ill and died from various diseases and conditions. Grandpa was never paid for his service.
Bob
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Great cover, Bob!
For an item like that, I always wonder: What might have motivated the sender to write when he did? And, about what?
Notwithstanding that it was a letter to his wife, and one of many, frequently sent, the winter of 1950-1951 was quite busy for the 1st Marines in Korea. And, according to the wikipedia page on Edward W. Snedeker, he was certainly in the thick of things.
Here is a quote from his wikipedia page:
"He rejoined 1st Marine Division on December 3, just for the Chosin Reservoir Campaign, in fact a breakout of U.N. forces from encirclement. Snedeker established the control and regulating post at Chinghung-ni, along the 1st Marine Division's withdrawal route from Chosin, and coordinated the movement of division units."
And, another quote from the wikipedia page for the "Third Battle of Seoul":
"On December 31, 1950, the Chinese 13th Army attacked the Republic of Korea Army (ROK)'s 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions along the 38th Parallel, breaching UN defenses at the Imjin River, Hantan River, Gapyeong and Chuncheon in the process. To prevent the PVA forces from overwhelming the defenders, the US Eighth Army now under the command of Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway evacuated Seoul on January 3, 1951."
Back to Snedeker's page, it was said that
"Snedeker's unit was used as "fire brigade" within Eighth United States Army."
I love making up stories about covers, and the hypothesis I'd seek to refute is that Col. Snedeker was writing his wife in the aftermath of those actions to tell her he was 'all right'. Quite remarkable!
-Paul
PS, Jeez, the cover doesn't even have a stamp on it! Shocking!
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Great post Bob, i am reading a book about Kurt Vonnegut and how it took him 20 years to come to terms with the fact that he and his little group of fellow P.O.W.s survived the fire bombing of Dresden where 130,000 people perished. Then he was able to write Slaughterhouse Five.
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@Paul — According to the,U.S. Army Center for Military, Col. Snedeker might have had a brief breathing spell, in which case he might well have had good news for his wife. Here’s part of the renter’s Korean War timeline for 1950-51: “Enemy offensive subsides; UNC situation stabilizes intelligence sources report many enemy units had withdrawn to refit.”
In my experience in Vietnam, we corpsmen and Marines took every opportunity, however brief, to write to family and loved ones. And like Col. Snedeker, we didn’t have to use stamps either, which is a privilege that many soldiers have enjoyed. Mail call occurred only after we had returned to our base camps from operations. At the end of Operation Double Eagle II, I received something like a dozen perfumed letters from the woman who would eventually become my wife, Susan Overturf. We were just penpals at that time, but I had known Susan since primary school and was best friends with her brother, Gary. We discussed possible marriage in our letters.
Susan and I continued writing after I was wounded and evacuated to the Naval hospital at Balboa in San Diego. Even though I was no longer in a combat zone, I was a combat veteran and as such still received free-franking privileges while I was in hospital. This is a cover that I posted from the hospital to my Grandmother Ingraham:
Canadian soldiers in the First World War had the same privilege, but with a difference: Community groups in Canada, as a public service, would intercept unfranked “war mail” from Europe, apply stamps, and forward the mail to the recipients. Here’s an explanation by another collector, Major E.R. Toop:
"Mail to Canada from overseas was usually suitably marked ‘On Active Service’ or ‘O.A.S.' and went free. Upon its arrival, Canadian postage was affixed at the following cities: Halifax, St John, N.B., Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and London (Ontario), Winnipeg, Medicine Hat & Nelson R.P.O., Calgary & Vancouver R.P.O., Vancouver and Victoria.
“Until July 28, 1917, it was necessary for these exchange offices to affix Canadian postage stamps to all stampless letters arriving from overseas forces, and to cancel the stamps. An agreement was reached with Great Britain on July 20, 1917 & put into effect July 28, 1917, permitting ‘FREE’ franking of soldier's mail. Stamped and cancelled covers are known dated after that effective date.”
Here is one such cover, which included not only a letter (from a doctor to his wife, in Victoria), but a dried poppy, a sprig of heather, and a four-leaf clover:
The doctor noted that from his field hospital he could hear the constant thunder of guns at the front. And so it goes.
Bob
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thanks for the explanation on Canadian military covers. Does that mean that soldiers of BEF enjoyed free franking? And did all other commonwealthy troops have that postage due privilege?
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I’m was tidying up my desk (in order to save my marriage), and got curious about a Korean War cover I bought recently because it was a 1st Marine Division* cover posted from Korea on my dad’s birthday, January 15, 1951 by a Col. E.W. Snedeker; note that this is a cover, not a lettersheet as described.
I googled Snedeker's rank and name and promptly entered the land of Serendip, and in about 9 seconds found a detailed biography and obituary.
Snedeker fought at Guadalcanal in the Second World War, commanded the 7th Marine Division for the assault on Okinawa, fought in several battles in Korea, including the first one, the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter, and went on to become commandant of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, finally retired two years before President Johnson made his fatal mistake of becoming involved in Vietnam's civil war. Do I choose good covers or what?!
Bob
*The division I served with in Vietnam.
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re: Serendipity!
That is a great cover Bob! The Internet has made it easy to do all kinds of research we never could in the good old days.
My father, a US Army Major, was stationed in Korea in 1968. Even then this was a 12 month hardship tour, my mother, sister and I lived in New Jersey while he was away!
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re: Serendipity!
Lt. Gen. Snedeker's obituary includes a memoir by another Marine Corps officer, who wrote, “…here was a man who left for war in 1942 and essentially came back to two grown daughters and two teenagers.” His wife’s experiences during that time must certainly have been similar to the family hardship that Tom mentions in the previous post.
My own maternal grandmother and my father and uncle had a similar experience in 1916,Texas to guard against incursions by Pancho Villa’s banditos after their attack on Columbus, New Mexico. He lost his job and was gone for some six months, during which time my grandmother was reduced to begging for food from neighbours.
And here’s a panorama photo of Grandpa Ingraham's company, taken at Pharr, Texas; he's the soldier in the yellow oval :
Grandpa Ingraham in his uniform, cropped from panorama photo of his company:
This real-photo postcard of my grandmother, my father and his older brother was taken during that time and was apparently sent as an enclosure in a letter to my gran father:
Grandpa Ingraham returned safely to New York, after enduring months of heat and poor sanitation. They never engaged Mexicans in combat, and never entered Mexico, like Pershing's "Punitive Expedition" did. Many of the National Guard soldiers became ill and died from various diseases and conditions. Grandpa was never paid for his service.
Bob
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09:01:13pm
re: Serendipity!
Great cover, Bob!
For an item like that, I always wonder: What might have motivated the sender to write when he did? And, about what?
Notwithstanding that it was a letter to his wife, and one of many, frequently sent, the winter of 1950-1951 was quite busy for the 1st Marines in Korea. And, according to the wikipedia page on Edward W. Snedeker, he was certainly in the thick of things.
Here is a quote from his wikipedia page:
"He rejoined 1st Marine Division on December 3, just for the Chosin Reservoir Campaign, in fact a breakout of U.N. forces from encirclement. Snedeker established the control and regulating post at Chinghung-ni, along the 1st Marine Division's withdrawal route from Chosin, and coordinated the movement of division units."
And, another quote from the wikipedia page for the "Third Battle of Seoul":
"On December 31, 1950, the Chinese 13th Army attacked the Republic of Korea Army (ROK)'s 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions along the 38th Parallel, breaching UN defenses at the Imjin River, Hantan River, Gapyeong and Chuncheon in the process. To prevent the PVA forces from overwhelming the defenders, the US Eighth Army now under the command of Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway evacuated Seoul on January 3, 1951."
Back to Snedeker's page, it was said that
"Snedeker's unit was used as "fire brigade" within Eighth United States Army."
I love making up stories about covers, and the hypothesis I'd seek to refute is that Col. Snedeker was writing his wife in the aftermath of those actions to tell her he was 'all right'. Quite remarkable!
-Paul
PS, Jeez, the cover doesn't even have a stamp on it! Shocking!
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re: Serendipity!
Great post Bob, i am reading a book about Kurt Vonnegut and how it took him 20 years to come to terms with the fact that he and his little group of fellow P.O.W.s survived the fire bombing of Dresden where 130,000 people perished. Then he was able to write Slaughterhouse Five.
Login to Like
this post
re: Serendipity!
@Paul — According to the,U.S. Army Center for Military, Col. Snedeker might have had a brief breathing spell, in which case he might well have had good news for his wife. Here’s part of the renter’s Korean War timeline for 1950-51: “Enemy offensive subsides; UNC situation stabilizes intelligence sources report many enemy units had withdrawn to refit.”
In my experience in Vietnam, we corpsmen and Marines took every opportunity, however brief, to write to family and loved ones. And like Col. Snedeker, we didn’t have to use stamps either, which is a privilege that many soldiers have enjoyed. Mail call occurred only after we had returned to our base camps from operations. At the end of Operation Double Eagle II, I received something like a dozen perfumed letters from the woman who would eventually become my wife, Susan Overturf. We were just penpals at that time, but I had known Susan since primary school and was best friends with her brother, Gary. We discussed possible marriage in our letters.
Susan and I continued writing after I was wounded and evacuated to the Naval hospital at Balboa in San Diego. Even though I was no longer in a combat zone, I was a combat veteran and as such still received free-franking privileges while I was in hospital. This is a cover that I posted from the hospital to my Grandmother Ingraham:
Canadian soldiers in the First World War had the same privilege, but with a difference: Community groups in Canada, as a public service, would intercept unfranked “war mail” from Europe, apply stamps, and forward the mail to the recipients. Here’s an explanation by another collector, Major E.R. Toop:
"Mail to Canada from overseas was usually suitably marked ‘On Active Service’ or ‘O.A.S.' and went free. Upon its arrival, Canadian postage was affixed at the following cities: Halifax, St John, N.B., Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and London (Ontario), Winnipeg, Medicine Hat & Nelson R.P.O., Calgary & Vancouver R.P.O., Vancouver and Victoria.
“Until July 28, 1917, it was necessary for these exchange offices to affix Canadian postage stamps to all stampless letters arriving from overseas forces, and to cancel the stamps. An agreement was reached with Great Britain on July 20, 1917 & put into effect July 28, 1917, permitting ‘FREE’ franking of soldier's mail. Stamped and cancelled covers are known dated after that effective date.”
Here is one such cover, which included not only a letter (from a doctor to his wife, in Victoria), but a dried poppy, a sprig of heather, and a four-leaf clover:
The doctor noted that from his field hospital he could hear the constant thunder of guns at the front. And so it goes.
Bob
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re: Serendipity!
thanks for the explanation on Canadian military covers. Does that mean that soldiers of BEF enjoyed free franking? And did all other commonwealthy troops have that postage due privilege?
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