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Militaria and Political Auction
Lot 1342:
[Anthony McAuliffe]
Doc 4.25" X5.25° 1 pp. February 18. [1945]
Europe File Miscellaneous
McAuliffe was the United States Army Officer and acting divisional commander of the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge. He refused to surrender, though the American troops were encircled by the Germans at Bastogne, and held out until Patton’s arrival. He was subsequently promoted to Major General and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in Europe during the 1950s.
In a war-dated V- Mail to the wife of newly promoted Brigadier General Rex Chandler, McAuliffe sends congratulations on Chandler’s "Silver star" and his "great work" as commander of the 1st Cavalry which had attacked Manila on February 3rd resulting in an end to almost three years of Japanese occupation, leading to MacArthur’s promised "return." Description:
Original V-Mail, one page, 4.25" × 5.25". Sent by Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe to Mrs. Rex Chandler, 208
Crescent, San Antonio 2, Texas. APO NYC, February 18 [1945]. Horizontal fold for mailing. Fine condition.
In full, "Dear Anne: Thanks very much for your note and good wishes. Thanks also for your kindness to Jack. He wrote that he had a wonderful Christmas with you, for which I’m most grateful. The news from Manila has thrilled the world and I’m not surprised to read that 1st Cav & 11th Airborne are doing great work there. Please congratulate Rex for me on his Silver star. I know he’s doing a job. I never climb into one of our marvelous cub airplanes that I don’t think of Rex. He really forced the army to buy them. Love to you, your Mother, Bobby and Anne. Sincerely Tony." In the upper right: From "Maj Gen A C McAuliffe, 103d Dist, APO 470, NYC. Feb 18.
On January 31, 1945, in the Philippines, two regiments of the 11th Airborne Division made an airborne assault, capturing a bridge, and later advanced towards Manila. On February 3rd, the 1st Cavalry Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. Chandler, captured the bridge across Tullahan River leading to the city. They advanced into the Philippine capital that evening beginning the Battle of Manila which ended almost three years of Japanese military occupation in the Philippines and marked Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s promised return.
Before the war, Anthony McAuliffe and Rex E. Chandler were Captains, First Field Artillery, stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Chandler was promoted to Brigadier General in early 1945 (referred to in this letter: "Silver star").
Brigadier General McAuliffe was serving as Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division when he parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and when he replied "Nuts!" to a formal German surrender ultimatum six months later on December 22, 1944.
From the National Postal Museum of the Smithsonian Institution: "V or Victory mail, was a valuable tool for the military during World War II. The process, which originated in England, was the microfilming of specially designed letter sheets. Instead of using valuable cargo space to ship whole letters overseas, microfilmed copies were sent in their stead and then ‘blown up’ at an overseas destination before being delivered to military personnel mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45. The blue-striped cardboard containers held V-mail letter forms.
"The system of microfilming letters was based on the use of special V-mail letter-sheets, which were a combination of letter and envelope. The letter-sheets were constructed and gummed so as to fold into a uniform and distinctively marked envelope. The user wrote the message in the limited space provided, added the name and address of the recipient, folded the form, affixed postage, if necessary, and mailed the letter. V-mail correspondence was then reduced to thumb-nail size on microfilm. The rolls of film were sent to prescribed destinations for developing at a receiving station near the addressee. Finally, individual facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was then delivered to the addressee.
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