For the Armed Forces 1967

North Vietnam, For the Armed Forces 1967, October 7th, 1967, Michel Nr. M13; A single stamp featuring the Peoples Army decal, war ships and anti-aircraft guns was produced by the Tien Bo Printing House, in sheets of 120 stamps and in perforation 11.0. Michel indicates that the issuance date was October 10th, 1967 but one would assume that the official Vietnamese Postage Stamp Catalogue would have access to better information.

Here is the mint stamp.

Large units than one are not common. Here is a mint block of four with right selvage.

Here are two hand painted essays attached to a white carton by the stamp’s designer Tran Huy Khanh. His signature is on the carton. These two essays were alternative designs that he had submitted to postal authorities but were ultimately rejected. Unique item.

Here is a blank envelope with a patriotic decal. On it is a single stamp that was cancelled on October 10th, 1967. Since it looks like homemade Fist Day Cover this may have led Michel to assume that the issuance date it shows in its catalogue. The official “Vietnam Postage Stamp Catalogue 1945-2005” list the first date of issuance as October 7th, 1967.

Local letters from the war period are rare. Most of them got destroyed by the multi-decadal war, the tropical climate and recycling due to raw material shortages. However, this stamp is easier to find on postally used cover than the previous free franks. Here is a local letter sent by a member of the military (Hom Thu 140.52) to what looks like a different military unit in Hanoi. Hanoi machine cancel from March of 1969. Machine arrival cancel on the reverse.

Local letter mailed from Ha Trang to Hanoi.

Local letter sent from Quang Binh to Hanoi. The stamp is cancelled with a rare dateless Quang Binh cancel and a manuscript X.

Very rare international letter from 1969 using this stamp and sent by a member of the military (Hom Thu 13927 KP) to a fellow Vietnamese in Budapest, Hungary. Military free franks were not valid as international postage but clearly the postal clerks handling this letter were unaware of it. Instead of applying a “TT” postage due hand stamp they simply let the letter go on its way to Hungary. This is the only international usage the editor has ever seen with the stamp.

Here is another very rare international letter bearing this stamp. It was sent from the totally bombed out coastal city of Vinh in spring of 1969. The city was totally destroyed by the Americans and as a result a temporary post office was put into action. These temporary military post offices used dateless red cancels that only shows the name of the city and “Vietnam”. This time the postal clerk caught the Military Free Frank that was not valid for international postage and he/she applied a black boxed “T” hand stamp indicting that the letter was essentially without postage ans that 12xu postage were due from the recipient. It is not clear if the postage due was ever collected.

Registration Nr. 101471