Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

70 APRIL 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Lost in transit near Java

W

ith the onset of war in 1939, memories of the

previous conflict were ever present, and the

need for security of information was again

paramount. However, it could never be possible

to stop all non-military communication

between those in the military services and their families. A system of

censorship began in Britain as early as the late 17th century, soon after

the formation of the General Post Office in 1657. By the time of the

Second World War, the British were well experienced with the process

of postal censorship to ensure an enemy did not correspond with

unfriendly entities, or to refer to information, either deliberately or

accidently, that would be of use to opposing forces.

By November, 1941, Leading Aircraftman Alec Brookes of No. 232

Squadron of the Royal Air Force, was serving his country overseas,

and any letter to him should not have contained information on the

progress of the war or morale of the citizens. From the parental home

in Walsall, his mother wrote to him on 14 November, as the surviving

letter with the cover shows. She comments, with some spelling errors:

‘I didnt realy think you were off so soon’ and ‘I only hope you’ll get

across the water alright’. Brookes was sent out to Malaya to help service

the Hawker Hurricane fighters of his squadron, arriving at Singapore

on 13 January, 1942. By this time the Japanese were on the march,

and the squadron was evacuated to Palembang in Sumatra with most

of the RAF in the last few days of that month. Two weeks later, on 15

February, 1942, all British units were withdrawn to Java, where due to

overwhelming forces, they surrended on 8 March, 1942.

During these months, the cover with enclosed letter from mum and

dad in Walsall was trying to find Alec Brookes. Postmarked in Walsall

on 15 November, 1941, with a machine cancellation ‘WALSALL /

15 NOV / 1941 / STAFFS.’, it was addressed to him with his service

number as ‘C/o A.P.O. 1575’. Not opened by the censor, it was sent

to India by surface mail and delivered to the Base Post Office in India

where the two-line unboxed cachet in violet ‘NO TRACE R.A.F. /

INDIAN COMMAND’ was applied on the reverse, a circular mark

numbered ‘16’, and an indistinct RAF Base Postal Section Bombay

circular date stamp of 18 January (1942). A further Base Post Office

circular date stamp was added three weeks later on 11 February.

The whereabouts of the Leading Aircraftsman was unknown, so

the cover was to be returned to England, and received an oblong

violet ink boxed instruction ‘UNDELIVERED FOR REASON

STATED / RETURN TO SENDER’ together with a ‘49’. A further

instruction, this time in dark blue ink, was applied on both sides of

the cover, reading ‘RETURN TO SENDER ON AIR / MINISTRY

INSTRUCTIONS. / W.G. Sleep. W.O.’ Three further circular

date stamps appear on the cover reverse. Field Post Office 124 on

28 December, 1942, and also a very indistinct March, 1943, stamp,

possibly of the same F.P.O. Additionally, a ‘RECORD OFFICE / 3

JUL 1943 / ROYAL AIR FORCE’ handstamp overstruck on the earlier

11 February mark.

The cover was then opened to ascertain whether details of the sender

could be found. They were, and ‘Mrs Brookes, 13. Wood End Rd,

Walsall, Staffs’ was written sideways in red ink on the reverse with the

cover re-sealed with the ‘OFFICIALLY SEALED / POST OFFICE.’

paper seal. At no time, apparently, were the contents of the letter

reviewed, as a censor would have struck out Mrs Brookes comment

‘Have you heard the Ark Royal has gone down at last there are only 18

missing but they all belonged to someone’. Mrs Brookes’s sentences

lacked punctuation quality, but the messages are clear.

It is highly likely that Alec Brookes was captured in Java in early

March 1942 after the Allies capitulated to the Japanese. For the next year

he would have been held at one of several Prisoner of War (POW) camps

in Java. A year later, in April 1943, Brookes was one of 2,000 POWs

taken on the Amagi Maru ship from Soerabaja in Java to Haroekoe in

the Dutch East Indies. Imprisonment there included forced labour to

build an airfield. Seven months later, on 25 November, 1943, 548 sick

POWs were taken by the Suez Maru ship for transportation back to Java,

including Alec Brookes. One can only wonder whether he ever received

any letter from his parents, who had promised (as the letter shows) to

write every week, and probably did. However, we do know that one

letter with cover was written, sent, returned and not lost in transit. In

it, the mother concluded with ‘Just look after yourself as much as you

can it wont be for ever’. Sadly it was, as the ship carrying the 548 men

was torpedoed by the USS Bonefish, and all died, including Leading

Aircraftman Alec Brookes, who was himself, lost in transit.

With thanks and acknowledgements to David Tett FRPSL who is the source

of this 1941 cover, and for his assistance in unravelling this poignant story.

Cover explained

This month, in his continuing series following the journeys of seemingly complex covers,

Dane Garrod looks at a piece of mail containing sensitive information that apparently

escaped the censor, and the story of the transit of both the addressee and the cover

Above: Soerabaja, Java. A house in the native quarter wrecked by a Japanese bomb

Letter, opposite: At no time, apparently, were the contents of the letter reviewed, as a censor

would have struck out Mrs Brookes comment ‘Have you heard the Ark Royal has gone down

at last there are only 18 missing but they all belonged to someone’. Mrs Brookes’s sentences

lacked punctuation quality, but the messages are clear

p70 Cover Explained.indd 70 01/03/2016 11:39