For the War Invalids 1971

North Vietnam, For the War Invalids 1971, April 30th, 1971, Michel Nr. M18; A single stamp with no nominal and in perforation 11.0 was released for the benefit of war veterans. The stamp was produced by the Tien Bo Printing House in sheets of 100 stamps.

Here is the mint stamp.

Mint block of four.

This stamp was not officially released imperforate however a very small number of imperforate trial proofs have come to market.

In his notes Jack Dyckhouse, Vice President of the Society of Indochinese Philatelists, writes that most of these stamps were sold cancelled to order to Eastern Bloc nations in order to pay for the war effort. The stamps that were still in the vaults of Hanoi were taken out in 1980-81during a shortage of military stamps because of the very large number of troops involved in Cambodia. The CTO stamps were distributed and allowed to be used. Note the cover below: there is a visible cancel on the upper left corner of the stamp. Usage is from Cambodia and appears be a disabled vet resettled into the occupied border area of Cambodia . The editor has never seen another letter that documents this emergency usage.