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  • Commemorative Stamp
  • 8 December 2006

Soldier Reading Letter

Soldier Reading a Letter at a Field Post Office

A soldier reading a letter at a field post office, one of four stamps for 150 years of field post offices.

Date of issue December 8, 2006
Denomination Rs. 5
Quantity printed 400000
Printer Security Printing Press, Hyderabad
Perforation comb13¼
Watermark No Watermark
Colours Multicolor
Printing process Wet Offset
Credit Sh. Sankha Samanta
Catalogue codes Michel IN 2177 Stamp Number IN 2178c Yvert et Tellier IN 1943 Stanley Gibbons IN 2367 WADP Numbering System - WNS IN058.2006

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About this stamp

On the Stamp

A smiling soldier reading a letter outside a field post office in the forest, under a sign reading “FPO” in Hindi and English.

150 Years of Field Post Offices

India Post issued four ₹5 stamps, printed together, on 8 December 2006 for 150 years of the field post offices of the Indian Army. A field post office is a post office set up in wartime, or when a military unit is on manoeuvres, to which mail for units in the field is sent to be sorted and forwarded. In India they are run by the Army Postal Service, a military mail system staffed mainly by officers and men sent from the Department of Posts. The first was set up in 1856 for the British expeditionary force sent to Persia, and worked at Bushire. India Post’s brochure for this issue is not online, so this text draws on Wikipedia, on the issue’s own page on this site and on the stamps themselves.

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