Westpex Retrospective
Chapter Three: Military Licenses, Stamps
and Usages
Groundbreaking, much of this material has never before been shown in a philatelic exhibit. This chapter is essential to telling the entire story and again helps to achieve the exhibitor’s goal of creating a comprehensive context for waterfowl licenses and stamps. The U.S. military trains former civilians in the use of various kinds of guns and weapons. They spend a lot of time getting conditioned to shooting guns. When they leave the service, a natural outlet for this conditioning is hunting. Recognizing this tendency, the U.S. government has made a purposeful effort to condition active military to being licensed and regulated when hunting. That effort is the subject of this chapter. In the upper half of this frame are many interesting licenses and federal usages prior to the first military adhesive stamps being issued, such as that from Fort Knox (see Figure 30). The fort is best known as the site which houses a large portion of the U.S. gold bullion reserves.
Figure 30. Hunting and fishing permit for the grounds of Fort Knox, Kentucky.
It has always been extremely difficult for collectors to acquire military licenses and stamps. Some of the unused adhesives extant were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, in combination with a sympathetic license agent. Highlights:
1922 Hunting Permit, U.S. Naval Reservation Olongapo, Philippine Islands. Of historical interest as noted in the exhibit, the significance of this item is once again a matter of degree. Not only is it the earliest military hunting license recorded, but by over a dozen years (see Figure 31).
Figure 31. U.S. Naval Reservation hunting permit, Olongapo, Philippine Islands. Issued on September 1, 1922.
1934 Washington Hunting License, Issued at Fort Lewis, with an RW1 Affixed. Nice item tying in the military usage with the introduction of the first federal waterfowl stamp (see Figure 32).
Figure 32. RW1 affixed to reverse of a Washington state hunting license. Issued at Fort Lewis, Washington.
1945 West Point Fishing license with an RW12 affixed. Aside from the obvious interest generated by a West Point usage, this license is the perfect fit in a forerunner section leading up to military adhesives – of which West Point issues are a primary component (see Figure 33).
Figure 33. RW12 usage on a West Point Military Academy fishing license.
1941 U.S. Coast Guard Permit to Carry [A] Shotgun on Coastal Waters with an RW12 affixed to the reverse. This is a fascinating license for several reasons, some of which the exhibitors discuss on the exhibit page. In addition, the permit conveyed the rights to carry a shotgun along a specific stretch of coastline for the purpose of hunting waterfowl. While the license expired in 1942, the first and only time a waterfowl stamp was affixed was in 1945. Therefore, the holder of the license carried it for four years (as evidenced by notable wear) before validating it with a federal stamp and using it for the purpose it intended (see Figure 34).
Figure 34. U.S. Coast Guard Permit To Carry a Shotgun for the purpose of hunting waterfowl, with an RW12 affixed to the reverse (inset).
1953 Fort Meade and 1956 Fort Lewis Hunting and Fishing license buttons. In general, the use of celluloid-covered pin-back license buttons came to an abrupt halt with the metal shortages caused by WW2. Following the war, many states did not resume issuing licenses in a button format. The Military did. Military licenses and stamps are difficult for collectors to acquire as they were primarily issued to military personnel and were highly controlled. Military license buttons are even harder to acquire as they were used less frequently than cloth or paper licenses (see Figure 35).
Figure 35. Military Hunting and Fishing License buttons issued after WW2.
1956 Aberdeen Proving Ground hunting license with RW23 affixed. This is a very interesting usage. At the time this license was issued, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps was conducting classified medical studies on 7,000 soldiers on the base. The soldiers were administered low doses of 250 different types of chemical agents to study the effects of chemical warfare (see Figure 36).
Figure 36. 1956 Aberdeen Proving Ground hunting license with RW56 affixed.
1967-8 Vandenberg Air Force Base Hunting Stamp. This is one of the most important and most difficult to acquire of all U.S. waterfowl stamps, the first military adhesive. Two used examples recorded. Civilians could not hunt on the base, thus relatively few stamps were printed and issued. The stamps are very tightly controlled, with only a handful of sources for collectors over the years (see Figure 37).
Figure 37. 1967 VAFB hunting stamp, the first military adhesive.
1994 California Hunting License with six different stamps affixed. A remarkable combination usage featuring every type of VAFB stamp that was current, along with California duck and upland stamps and a federal waterfowl stamp (RW60). The most complex VAFB usage recorded (see Figure 38).
Figure 38. 1994 California hunting license featuring every type of VAFB stamp in use at the time.
1983-84 West Point Hunting Stamp. The West Point Military Academy became the second military facility to issue stamps. It is not known when they first started, but the 1983-84 stamp shown (see Figure 39) is the earliest recorded and is from the famed Vanderford collection (an ex-military officer).
Figure 39. The earliest recoded hunting stamp from the West Point Military Academy.