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Description
Original World War I American Red Cross “Soldiers’ Mail” safe-arrival card sent by 1st Lieutenant Thomas W. Proctor, Company B, 49th U.S. Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces.
The printed message on the reverse reads:
“THE SHIP ON WHICH I SAILED HAS ARRIVED SAFELY OVERSEAS.”
These cards allowed American servicemen to notify their families that their troopship had safely reached Europe without revealing sensitive information concerning the ship, sailing date, route, or destination.
Proctor identifies himself on the card as:
Thomas W. Proctor
1st Lt., Co. B, 49 Infantry
American Expeditionary Forces
The card is addressed to Mrs. Thomas W. Proctor, 23 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Contemporary Brookline directories document Mr. & Mrs. Thomas W. Proctor at 23 Hammond Street, including in 1919 and 1920, providing excellent provenance for the piece.
Military history: Thomas W. Proctor is also found in the 1917 Plattsburg military training camp roster, where a man of the same name served in Company 3, 17th Provisional Training Regiment, the New England contingent of the Second Officers’ Training Camp. This is consistent with Proctor subsequently serving as a commissioned infantry officer.
By the time this card was sent, Proctor was a 1st Lieutenant in Company B, 49th Infantry. The 49th Infantry was a Regular Army regiment organized during World War I and sent overseas to France in 1918. The card therefore represents the moment Proctor informed his family that he had successfully completed the dangerous wartime Atlantic crossing.
Family provenance: The recipient was associated with the family of Thomas W. Proctor, a prominent Boston attorney, who later served as president of both the Boston Bar Association and the Massachusetts Bar Association. His death in 1931 at age 72 was sufficiently notable to receive an obituary in The New York Times. The family\'s Chestnut Hill residence provides a direct geographic connection between the surviving card and the Proctor family.
The elder Proctor also appears in period professional records at 246 Washington Street, Boston, further documenting his Boston professional presence.
An unusually well-provenanced piece of WWI AEF, 49th Infantry, American Red Cross, military postal and Boston history, combining an identifiable officer, identifiable unit, original family address and a prominent Massachusetts legal family.
Condition: Original antique card with expected age toning, light edge/corner wear and handling. Please examine photographs carefully for exact condition. Both sides are shown.
C768
