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Catalog Data

Medium:
paper; ink; watercolor
Dimensions:
Height x Width: 3 15/16 x 6 3/4 in. (10 x 17.2 cm)
Type:
Covers & Associated Letters
Place of Destination:
New York
Date:
c. 1944
Description:
This postal stationery airmail envelope (UC3) was sent to New York from APO 70 (Dagupan, Luzon), was passed by censor (#31527) and was postmarked March 8 (The year is illegible but likely 1944 based on the APO location.). The watercolor illustration features an altar adorned in red flowers. The artist Jack Fogarty recalled that the altar was created from a wooden crate and a borrowed hospital ward bed sheet, assembled for a visiting Catholic chaplain.
Jack Fogarty served with the US Army’s 98th Evacuation Hospital during World War II. While working in the hospital’s administrative office, Corporal Jack Fogarty (later promoted to Sergeant) struck up a life-long friendship with Chief Warrant Officer John MacDonald and his wife, Mary. Jack and John both wrote regularly to Mary as the war took them to the Pacific Theater. John MacDonald also served as a censor for the unit, and the illustrated covers by Jack Fogarty bear MacDonald’s censor stamp and signature. In his correspondence with Mary, Jack filled the envelopes with scenes in watercolors, ink, and pencil. The illustrated covers show Jack’s life at the Desert Training Center in Yuma, Arizona, and his overseas service in New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan. In addition to illustrating his personal correspondence, Jack contributed artwork to the 98th Evacuation Hospital’s newsletter, The Bulletin. After the war, Fogarty’s artistic career took him into acting and his prolific correspondence with friends sometimes included illustrations.
References:
Jack Fogarty, e-mail message to Lynn Heidelbaugh, April 8, 2013.
Fogarty, John. Little Boy-Short Trousers-Eaton Cap: This I Remember. AuthorHouse, 2005.
Topic:
World War II (1939-1945)  Search this
Covers & Letters  Search this
Object number:
2012.2006.12
See more items in:
National Postal Museum Collection
Data Source:
National Postal Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/hm84ca51120-9f7d-44e6-82e0-daba86e0220c
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npm_2012.2006.12