The Vogels of Artesia, New Mexico 2

   

Another hand franked postcard from "Pvt. Roy R. Vogel, 346th Air Base Sgdn., Municipal Air Port , Memphis, Tenn, Barrack 411 S."  Well, now we know Roy's middle initial and his barracks assignment.  Once again it's mailed to "Miss Dorothy Vogel, Artesia, New Mex, Box #632."  Spelled out a bit differently, but the same recipient. And the message, "Dear Dot, I received a letter from you and one from Jane a week or so ago so will send this on to both of you as I have so much waiting to do.  The pictures are just like the animals in the zoo.  It is the second largest in the world.  I am feeling all all right.  I will be closing for today.  Your cousin Roy."  Well, not too detailed, and I have my doubts that the Memphis Zoo was the second largest in the world, but how much can you get on a postcard, and how much honesty can you expect from a young private who was probably away from home for the first time in his life.

  The postmark is "MEMPHIS TENN, DEC 3, 8 PM DE SOTO STA. 1" The caption, "Scenes from the Memphis Zoo, one of the finest in the world."  Click on The Vogel Collection in labels to bring up the rest. 

The Vogels of Artesia, New Mexico 1

 

Time for another three-part collection, though I don't think I'm going to put them up in a row, so click on The Vogel Collection in labels to bring all three up.

So, all three of these postcards were mailed during World War 2 and all three were hand-franked.  Basically, during the war, U.S. military members could use the mail for free.  All they had to do was write free where the stamp should be and off it went.  This card was mailed by "Pvt. Roy Vogel, 346th Air Base Sgdn., Municipal Air Port, Memphis, Tenn."  It was mailed to "Miss Dorothy Vogel, Artesia, New Mexico, Box 632."   And the message, "Dear Dorothy, I received your letter this morn.  Was glad to hear from you. I had some pictures made the other day.  I will send one in a few days. I feel well at present.  Hope I can continue feeling that way.  Your cousin, Roy." 

So, presumably, Roy Vogel was in the Army Air Corp. (There was no separate Air Force during World War 2)  As a private, he wasn't training as a pilot, co-pilot, or navigator.  Perhaps he was training as a mechanic or as a gunner.  

There is a readable postmark, "MEMPHIS, TENN. NOV 3 4 PM 1942, DE SOTO STA."  The card's caption, "The Memphis Municipal Airport is one of the finest in America.  Made by Curteich, Chicago. 

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 20

Done.  The Bulgarian school boys (and girls) have come to an end.   As I noted in an earlier post, I bought this album from an eBay seller in Bulgaria who told me that these photos showed school uniforms.  With the passage of time, some of those school uniforms got traded in for military uniforms, but there was a war going on and more than likely the young men in this collection didn't have much choice in the matter.  Making out the dates on the backs of these images was pretty easy but I didn't do as well with the writing.  When I was growing up I was a paperboy.  Does that job even exist anymore?  Anyway, some of my customers were elderly Russians who had come to the United States, after the revolution, and worked in the local coal mines.  I picked up a bit of the language from them.  I can't remember much anymore, but I can still make out the Cyrillic alphabet.  I thought about spelling the words out phonetically and running them through Google translate, but when I realized that I had trouble deciphering the actual handwriting, I gave up, so if there are any native Bulgarian speakers who would like to help me out, I'd appreciate it.  Anyway,  Stara Zagora was easy, and I'm fairly certain that the girl on this page is named Ivanka, but that's as far as I'll go on this page.  I hope they all survived the war and the post war dictatorships. 

As usual, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in the labels section at the bottom of the post.  It's now possible to see the whole album, from front to back.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 14

The top photo really suggests some big questions.  Dated April 1944, it looks like Stara Zagora was spared the ravages of World War 2.  The city looks untouched and the two gentlemen in uniforms seem rather happy and self satisfied.  In April of 1944, Bulgaria was still an ally of Germany, but the Soviet army was just five months away from tossing out the Germans as well as the fascist  government.  Were these two young men  happy to be living in a Nazi state or were they looking forward to liberation, as short-lived as that turned out to be?  Of course, they may have been thinking about the two ladies in the second photo.  I almost didn't scan the back of the second photo, but I thought it might be a local way of  writing a date.  February 9, 1942, or perhaps September 2, 1942.  Then again it might be a notation that only the owner of this album could understand. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 4

Bulgarian school boys hanging out with a professor, Bulgarian school boys goofing off in science class?  The second print has an actual confirm-able date.  Translated from the Bulgarian, "28 September 1942."  As mentioned in earlier posts, Bulgaria remained neutral until late 1941.  With the failing Italian invasion of Greece, Hitler decided to bail his allies out, and more or less forced a decision on the Bulgarian government.  The German army was going to march overland to Greece whether Bulgaria liked it or not, so capitulating to an ultimatum, Bulgaria joined the Axis powers.  There had been an unofficial fascist movement in the country, led by retired general Hristo Lukov and Tsar Boris III was  not unfriendly to the Nazi movement.  On the other hand, Bulgaria had one of the more active and widely supported resistance movements in Europe.  The Union of Bulgarian National Legions, the fascists,  and the anti-fascists were both popular with the young, so it's at least somewhat possible that the young students in these photos would choose opposite sides and end up fighting and killing each other in the war.  While Bulgaria did not join the German invasions of their neighbors, they did occupy parts of Yugoslavia and Greece, and when borders were adjusted after World War 2, Bulgaria ended up as the only Axis power to add territory.

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album n labels to see more.

The Shoe Lady's Photographer?

I found this photo in the same box as the photos from the shoe lady series, it's the same format, same era, and same type of paper.  I'm guessing that this guy was her photographer, although, of course, there's no way I can verify that.  The Pride of the Yankees, from the movie theater marquee in the background, dates this photo to 1942.  Too, the camera looks like a Busch Pressman, a great camera.  Click on Shoe Lady in labels to see what I've found so far.

Waiting to go Overseas

This one has "42" written on the back.  I don't know if that's the year or not, but it's more than probable.  Anyway, this couple look more middle aged than not, so here's the question, is the soldier  career army, or was he one of the many aging men who volunteered after Pearl Harbor.  Too old for the peace time military but more than welcome in war time.

Baby It's Cold Inside

  As I've noted in other posts, I sometimes buy envelopes of photos.  If the price is low enough, I'm willing to purchase an envelope for one or two prints.  As the price goes up, I have to want at least half of the images.  As such, I do end up with a lot of snapshots that aren't necessarily bad, but are far less interesting than I'd like.  In a nut shell, I've got a lot of photos, sitting on my desk, that have been there awhile, and it's time to publish some of them.  For the next few posts I'm going to concentrate on the largest single category, women in singles and groups.

This one's dated, "Jan 22, 1942" and it reminds me of home.  No, I didn't grow up in a house with three girls, but I did grow up in a house that was cold during the winter.  When I was born, in 1955, our home was heated by coal, but by the time I was four, we had transitioned to natural gas.  A year latter, my parents split up, the household was a lot poorer, and in order to save money, my mother turned down the winter heat to 50 degrees.  Anything lower than that, and the pipes in the basement would burst.  To keep warm, I'd sit on the floor register, and let the warmish air blow over me.

In 1942, the war had started, and rationing had become the new normal.  Coal was a strategic material, and since most homes were heated by coal, winter became a chilly time for Americans.  Since this photo has the classic steam register, I suspect it was taken in a big city apartment.  The poor super would have to get up in the middle of the night to shovel more coal into the boiler, while his chilled tenants would huddle near the register to stay warm.  Oh for the end of the war so the "sup" could shovel on the cold and make things nice and toasty.