Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
The stamp, Scott 907, "Nations United for Victory," was issued on January 14, 1943, which happens to be the day I was born. It's also the day that the Casablanca Conference opened; at that conference, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Charles De Gaulle and Henri Leclerc, representing Free France, agreed to demand the unconditional surrender of Germany, assuming of course that Germany would have no choice! Stalin didn't attend, citing the need to remain in Russia because of the ongoing battle at Stalingrad. A lot of work was ahead for the Allies; the conference occurred almost in the exact middle of the Second World War, assuming Sept. 1, 1939 as the starting date. But wait, there's more!
The primary reason I purchased the cover is the cachet. I've never had anything to do with paratroopers, but when I was 19, two U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers — "descendants" of paratroopers — probably saved my life after the Forest Service plane I'd hitched a ride in crashed near a small fire in New Mexico's Black Range in the Gila National Forest. If the smokejumpers hadn't reached the pilot and me, we might well have died of exposure and shock; the crash site was at more than 2,400 metres (8,000 feet) and there was little daylight left when they parachuted in; a ground party didn't arrive until dawn the next morning, even though we could see their flashlights and hear them talking across a canyon around midnight. In any event I've thought rather kindly of smokejumpers ever since then! You can read more details about the crash, and see a photograph of the plane's wreckage, at Surviving a plane crash in the Black Range.
I'm planning to do a webpage about paratroopers and smokejumpers; this cover will make a nice illustration to set the stage.
Bob
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nice story, nice Crosby cover, and glad you're here to tell it
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Bob, I read your entire web page with much interest! You've led an interesting life and tell the story well! Very few people can say they survived such a plane crash.
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I recently found this "Buy it Now" Crosby FDC, illustrated as are all Crosby FDCs as far as I know, with a real photograph. I think it was made for me! I bought it, and it arrived today.
The stamp, Scott 907, "Nations United for Victory," was issued on January 14, 1943, which happens to be the day I was born. It's also the day that the Casablanca Conference opened; at that conference, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Charles De Gaulle and Henri Leclerc, representing Free France, agreed to demand the unconditional surrender of Germany, assuming of course that Germany would have no choice! Stalin didn't attend, citing the need to remain in Russia because of the ongoing battle at Stalingrad. A lot of work was ahead for the Allies; the conference occurred almost in the exact middle of the Second World War, assuming Sept. 1, 1939 as the starting date. But wait, there's more!
The primary reason I purchased the cover is the cachet. I've never had anything to do with paratroopers, but when I was 19, two U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers — "descendants" of paratroopers — probably saved my life after the Forest Service plane I'd hitched a ride in crashed near a small fire in New Mexico's Black Range in the Gila National Forest. If the smokejumpers hadn't reached the pilot and me, we might well have died of exposure and shock; the crash site was at more than 2,400 metres (8,000 feet) and there was little daylight left when they parachuted in; a ground party didn't arrive until dawn the next morning, even though we could see their flashlights and hear them talking across a canyon around midnight. In any event I've thought rather kindly of smokejumpers ever since then! You can read more details about the crash, and see a photograph of the plane's wreckage, at Surviving a plane crash in the Black Range.
I'm planning to do a webpage about paratroopers and smokejumpers; this cover will make a nice illustration to set the stage.
Bob
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re: A cover made for me!
nice story, nice Crosby cover, and glad you're here to tell it
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re: A cover made for me!
Bob, I read your entire web page with much interest! You've led an interesting life and tell the story well! Very few people can say they survived such a plane crash.
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like this post.
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