An envelope adorned with the new 2nd Infantry Division postal cancellation stamp is seen at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. (Marcus Fichtl/Stars and Stripes)
An envelope adorned with the new 2nd Infantry Division postal cancellation stamp is seen at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. (Marcus Fichtl/Stars and Stripes)
Mail clerks attend the unveiling of a postage cancellation stamp commemorating the 2nd Infantry Division's 100th anniversary at the Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, post office, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. (Marcus Fichtl/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — Army postal workers near the Korean Demilitarized Zone are celebrating the 2nd Infantry Division’s 100th birthday by stamping the unit’s distinctive Indianhead logo on incoming mail.
Camp Red Cloud Post Office in Uijeongbu City — just south of the tense border with North Korea — unveiled the new postmark on Monday.
The mark, which invalidates postage stamps on incoming mail, includes the words: “Honoring our past, inspiring our future,” and “Celebrating 100 years of history” beside an Indianhead like the one on 2ID’s well-known logo.
“If there’s one thing that every soldier appreciates, it’s receiving some kind of mail while forward deployed,” 2nd ID’s commander, Maj. Gen. Scott McKean, said before stamping the first envelope.
The postmark, which took 10 months to develop and get U.S. Postal Service approval, will be used for 30 days, said James Register, Camp Red Cloud’s chief of postal operations.
Collectors and former members of the division are expected to order 1,500 copies of the rubber stamp, he added.
“It’s going to go all over the world,” Register said.
The small size of Camp Red Cloud, which receives about 80,000 pounds of mail each month, means the postmark will be rare.
Register said postal workers near the DMZ are in the business of morale — and nothing beats a handwritten letter.
“You can get telephone calls, but to have that letter in your hand and open it from a loved one, it’s unique, it’s different, it’s special,” he said.
