1944 PRISONER OF WAR MAIL
ON 2c RICE PLANTER CARD

Figure 1

Figures 2 and 3

Figure 4
1944 FEBRUARY 24: MANILA to ZENTSUJI, SHIKOKU, JAPAN
From CHARITO DUARTE, 1310 Ilocos Street, Manila. Addressed to Lt. Robert Wm. Studer, assumed a POW incarcerated in Japan per boxed-in purple marking of  "HURYO YUBIN" (same as FURYO YUBIN) or Prisoner of War Mail.

Figure 2: Handstamped on the left of the Rice Planter card is the  double circle cachet of "PHILIPPINE RED CROSS". The first word on the bottom is indistinct. The two last words readable and i will assume that the entire line would be "NEWS & INFORMATION SERVICE."

The card is censored on verso, Figure 3. The sender, being a Filipina, most likely asked A Japanese to write the message in their language which would require no translation by the authorities in Japan. There is no way of knowing if the censor mark was applied locally or in Japan. The absence of a censor chop could be an indication that the marking was applied in Manila. with the text in Japanese and a censor mark, there is that possibility that the cover did not require censorship upon arrival since its contents had to be translated to English (verbally perhaps) to the addressee. Translation of the message will have to wait as my eagerness to put this item on display prevails.

Three words in the message do not require translation: "DEAR BOBB", the addressee and "CHARI", the sender (upper right side and lower left side respectively on Figure 4.

Surprisingly, the card does not bear the Manila foreign mail censor mark which was required for the duration of the Occupation.

I would think that this card is one of a kind and therefore unique. The cover is an outbound POW mail from a local civilian. This is the first time I have encountered such. Outgoing POW mail was on special "Furyo Yubin" cards, first "distributed to the various camps around Christmastime in 1942" (Garrett). As expected, majority were addressed to the U.S.