Description

1942 (May 12) Plain worn stamp less envelope with left side back flap gone endorsed Prisoner of War Postage Free to Cpl. Clarence Filbert Cooper Jr. Formerly of Wake Island American Prisoner of Japan, c/o International Red Cross, Geneva & forwarded in red ink to Shanghai, China cancelled Wasco Calif. date stamp. Intercepted by the British in Bermuda where PC 90 OPENED BY EXAMINER 778 label with manuscript I.C. was applied & with violet circular International de la Croix Rouge- Geneve Red Cross cachet & partial red 40 x 20mm framed Japanese Censored Shanghai POW camp with orange oval censor chop of Endo inserted alongside manuscript 61 & on reverse a pencil list of travelling kit ………Wake Island on 23 December 1941 was the first US possession to surrender to the Japanese invasion force . The US military garrison was 486 when it fell. The majority of the military except for 20 wounded & civilian prisoners were transported on 12 Feb 1942 on the Nitta Maru via Yokohama arriving Shanghai Camp 24 Jan 1942. The population of the camp became 1800 of which 1100 were civilians from Wake Island, mail from military personnel being very much scarcer. Flynn in Intercepted in Bermuda records 7 examples of Examiner 778 used in Bermuda between 5 Sep 1940 – 4 Nov 1943.