Some months ago, I bought at auction six postal covers with illustrations of the attack on Pearl Harbor and other World War II battles drawn by a man named Fred Miller. I had never heard of Miller, but he was obviously an artist or illustrator and that was enough to entice me.
I thought it fitting to again take a look at these covers – as the envelopes are called by collectors – on this day, the 68th anniversary of the bombing by the Japanese army in 1941. Pearl Harbor was also on my mind because on Sunday morning, I had read a story in my local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, about the anniversary.
The covers appeared to be originals from around 1943, a little faded but with the illustrations still very striking. The glue holding them together on the back had bled through. The previous owner had also placed folded white paper inside, apparently to keep the covers flat.
They were stamped with the year 1981, and I’m assuming they were leftovers from the ’40s rather than reproductions. Each had a “C” postage stamp (these were first issued in 1981), and had been hand-stamped with this inscription: “Honolulu, HI Submarine Base Sta. USPS. Dec. 7, 1981.”
Two of the covers were in plastic, and the previous owner labeled one plastic covering: “Fred Miller’s W.W. II covers. 40th Anniversary. Pearl Harbor Different Scenes. Submarine Base. December 7, 1941. $85.00 (Lot).” On another plastic cover was the label: “Most all Patriotic Covers. $4.75 each.”
Each was numbered near the postage stamp, and mine were 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. They were all signed “F. Miller” and none had been used.
Here’s what the covers showed:
Envelope 1: Japanese bombers flying over U.S. ships, soldiers firing back, ships sinking. I learned that the illustration on the cover was called a “cachet.”
Envelope 2: Soldiers firing during the Battle of Wake Island, which began at same time as attack on Pearl Harbor.
Envelope 4: Soldiers tending the wounded at the Battle of Corregidor, where the Japanese fought to claim the Phillippines.
Envelope 6: Plane bombing a Japanese ship.
Envelope 8: Plane sinking a sub in the Atlantic.
Envelope 10: Soldiers landing in Algiers.
I was not able to find out anything about Fred Miller, but I did find a site America in WWII with a 2006 article written by an expert on Pearl Harbor collectibles. Collector Martin Jacobs wrote about all the paraphernalia produced ,under the rallying cry “Remember Pearl Harbor,” including postal covers, posters, pins, medals and patches. The article noted that the postal covers were designed by prominent illustrators at the time. Also important to collectors, according to the article, were handwritten letters with a postmark of Dec. 7, 1941 or shortly thereafter, as well as cablegrams and lettergrams.
I found three postal covers similar to mine on the website Jim Forte Postal History (which sells postal covers). Two of the Pearl Harbors had been mailed and were postmarked 1943. They had been sent from an Air Force base in Louisiana and a Navy base in Minnesota. They were selling for $20 and $25. I also found the Wake Island envelope on the same site, also dated 1943 and selling for $10.
The Miller whose name kept coming up in my search was Dorie Miller, an African American who was the cook aboard the USS West Virginia when it was attacked. With carnage, destruction and gunfire all around, Miller took up an antiaircraft machine gun and fired on the Japanese planes until he ran out of ammunition and the ship was ordered abandoned. He was awarded the Navy Cross in 1942.
