Almost a day before Christmas! I'm done with all the Christmas parties and meet ups. I missed seeing some friends only because I don't want to plant my own source of frustration. I knew how it feels to schedule get togethers that will eventually not push through. I held on to the belief that if they want to see me, they know where to find me. :)

Setting aside these holiday blues, I wanted to share a recent addition to my addiction. :) I was able to purchase another vintage mail. 


It's an envelop from the Office of the Naval Attache of the US Embassy in Warsaw Poland. The sender's name, CDR. Rolison. It took me some time to figure out what does CDR mean. Turns out, it stands for Commander, which makes sense because the envelop relates from the Office of the Naval Attache. 

I tried my best to find information about CDR.V. Rolison. I made some email inquiry and have yet to hear a response. I hope this turns out to be a successful attempt.

The recipient is identified to be a female because of the Ms. or Mrs.? I'm not sure about the handwriting though. At this point, I wished the sender provided the complete name of the recipient. I believe it is impossible to determine details about the recipient with the name, J.C. Schiff.  

While the recipient remains unknown, I was blessed to capture a complete address. With the help of Instant Street View, I was able to find the exact location of the address. Actual photo can be found here.  


As someone who is not familiar with New York, I will assume that the place is a typical apartment residential site for the middle class populace. I made this assumption because the only high end sites in New York that I know include the surrounding areas of Fifth Avenue and Central Park. 



I checked details of the stamps and postmark. This is something that confuses me. The envelop seems to have come from Poland. The "Polska" stamps can prove that the envelop originated from Poland. However, the postmark reveals another information. The envelop looks like it was mailed in USA, evidenced by the postmark indicating, "Air Postal Service A.P.O., February 19, 1958" One of the stamps have been unfortunately peeled off already. The remaining stamp bears a US postage. 

I was about to finish this post when I realized that I missed another detail. There was a handwritten detail from the sender.

c/o ALO USBER - I'm not sure if this is a person or a department. I'm still the process of determining. 

What seems to be clear is the address, 
APO 742 New York

APO stands for Army Post Office. When I further searched for details, I learned that addresses with APO indicates that the letter originated from a military postal service situated abroad or perhaps, even within any point in USA. In the course of finding more information, I encountered this video clip about how letters for military offices are distributed 



So this is how it works for people stationed in military office abroad. :)

Truth to be told, I still lack details about this vintage envelop.The email I will be sending will hopefully give more details. What is only clear at this point, I got an envelop from the US Embassy's Office of the Naval Attached in Poland. The envelop was sent via the NY's APO and reached an intended recipient who resides in New York.