Those who know me know I have a deep respect for veterans, especially WW2 veterans. I made this pen with unused stamps from the 1940s specifically commemorating some person or aspect of WW2. This unique pen comes with a leather roll case for protection, and a Certificate of Authentication.
One stamp I used on the pen body is a 3-cent black stamp issued on May 28, 1948, honoring four chaplains who sacrificed their lives in the sinking of the S. S. Dorchester. The chaplains, who represented Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths, gave up their life preservers to other crew members and went down with the ship. Dorchester was an aging luxury liner converted for troop transport sailing from New York to Greenland when a German U-boat’s torpedo destroyed it on February 2, 1943. Pictured above the sinking ship in the central design are the four chaplains—George L. Fox, Clark V. Poling, John P. Washington, and Alexander D. Goode.
Another stamp, featuring the U.S. Army during World War II, has a procession of troops in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as six bombers pass overhead. Constructed in the early 1800s, the Arc honors all those who fought for France, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. The arc has served as a popular place for French victory marches over the years, including the French with their American allies in 1944 and 1945.
As a testament to our refusal to lose at war, I included the 3-cent violet stamp issued on September 27, 1944 which paid tribute to the final resistance of Philippine and American defenders on Corregidor. This island fortress, at the entrance to Manila Bay, served as headquarters for American forces until its capture by the Japanese in 1942. The twenty-seven day struggle by the defenders against overwhelming enemy forces thwarted Japanese plans to advance on Australia. General Douglas MacArthur and his forces recaptured Corregidor in 1945, making good on his promise, “I shall return!”
Another purple stamp on the cap commemorates the 50th anniversary of the motion picture industry in America. The movie industry served as one of the primary means of communication to those of us on the “home-front”. Keeping with the patriotic fervor of the wartime years, the purple stamp on the cap is a scene of an open-air movie show to an audience of armed forces members in a South Pacific setting.
If you like this pen but prefer other WW2 stamps, contact me.
