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Show Mail For Our Armed Forces Is Handled By Each Branch During recent months, complaints com-plaints from the public of delayed delay-ed or lost mail addressed to members mem-bers of the armed forces indicate that there is wide misunderstanding misunder-standing of how this mail is handled and of the difficulties encountered in its delivery. These complaints, incidentally, are far fewer than the number received during the First World War, although the volume of mail is much larger, according to veteran officials who have directed postal activities in both wars. Mail for members of the armed forces is delivered by the Postal Service to Army and Navy authorities au-thorities at post offices convenient conveni-ent to camps or stations in this country or to ports of embarkation embark-ation when addressed to persons overseas. The Postal Service then has no further jurisdiction over the mail, and responsibility for its delivery from that point on lies entirely with the Army and Navy. Likewise, the Army and Navy handle mail from members of the armed forces until un-til it is delivered to civilian post offices in this country, and the Postal Service has no jurisdiction over the mail until so received. Army and Navy post offices are, technically, branches of civilian ci-vilian post offices in this country, but they are not under the jurisdiction juris-diction of the Postal Service, being be-ing maintained and operated by the War and Navy Departments and manned by military and naval na-val personnel. Directory service, through which improperly addressed mail is readdressed and forwarded, is provided by the Army and Navy. Delays in the mail to the armed arm-ed forces may be caused by various vari-ous factors. Transportation of the mail sometimes must be postponed so that more urgent needs for arms, food, or more military and naval personnel may be filled first. Although mails are dispatched at every opportunity, op-portunity, at times the overburdened over-burdened facilities cannot ac commodate all the mail and it must be held until shipping space is available. Ships must travel in convoys, in the interest of safety, and a convoy can start only when the last ship is loaded and can travel only as fast as the slowest ship in the group all of which consumes much time. Transfers of personnel from one. point to another also add to the time required for mail to catch up with the men shifted. Censorship, Cen-sorship, which is done by the office of Censorship or military authorities, may also cause some delay, although this is held to a minimum. The Post Office Department De-partment does not have jurisdiction jurisdic-tion over the censorship of mail. Ship sinkings by the enemy account for much of the lost mail. Many thousands of letters and packages have been on ships lost by enemy action. Many postal patrons have wondered why there is more rapid and regular mail service from the armed forces overseas than to them. This is because less mail comes from overseas than goes to our armed forces overseas; ships and planes on return trips have more space available; and the location of addresses ad-dresses in this country is more stable than that of overseas personnel. per-sonnel. V-mail letters are given priority in transportation by the Army and Navy over ordinary mail, and, when possible, are sent by plane. Some of the public are under the misapprehension that the Post Office Department can provide pro-vide the addresses and locations of soldiers, sailors, and marines aboard. The Postal Service has no such records. When it is necessary to obtain such addresses ad-dresses of soldiers they may be had from the Office of the Adjutant Adju-tant General, War Department, Washngton, D. C; of sailors, from the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Per-sonnel, Navy Department, Washington; Wash-ington; and of marines, from the Marine Corps Headquarters, Navy Na-vy Department Building, Washington. |
