New Zealand Prisoner of War Lettercards

Introduction

I had begun collecting this material when I saw on E-bay some interesting and extremely scarce items for sale. They were New Zealand Prisoner of War Lettercards designed for use in Europe, that were addressed to a New Zealand Prisoner of War Airman who was interred in Batavia. This is extremely unusual anyway, because New Zealand’s war effort was concentrated on Europe, North Africa and the Pacific Islands, not the Far East. Pilot Officer Percy Wellington was a New Zealand volunteer for the Royal Air Force and was stationed at Singapore when the Japanese invaded. He managed to escape to Batavia, but was soon captured and spent the rest of the war interred at various Japanese Prisoner of War prisons in the Dutch East Indies.

These items were being sold by Graham Reynolds from Kent, England. I managed to buy all except one, and then looked to see what else Graham was selling. There was a lot of other Japanese Prisoner of War material. I contacted him and asked him whether he was selling his collection. The answer was that he was only selling his spares. I eventually bought the balance of his material, forming the foundation of my Japanese Prisoner of War collections and exhibits.

The standard reference for this material is:

Treasured Letters: New Zealand Prisoner of War Air Letter Cards 1941 – 1945: Barry J E Scott & Robin M Startup, Edited by Brian Vincent; Monograph No. 18, RPSNZ, 2011.

Results

Christchurch One Frame Stamp & Postcard Exhibition 2023: 91 Points Large Gold. Part of the Wellington Philatelic Society’s winning team of 5 exhibits.

Singapex 2019 FIAP Stamp Exhibition: 86 Points

BOFEX, South Africa  2017 Virtual One Frame Stamp Exhibition: 83 Points

Adelaide Stampex 2017: 90 Points, Large Gold

Exhibit