No. 14 - Gibbstown, NJ, USA to Bangued, Abra, Luzon, Philippines

Dated 17 November, 1941, traveling by surface mail, this cover went west, probably to a west coast port for transhipment to the Philippines. The Philippines were invaded by the Japanese on 08 December, 1941 and mail from the USA to this area was suspended. At some point in its journey, the cover was detained and a "RETURN TO SENDER/SERVICE SUSPENDED" hand stamp applied. It isn't known where the cover was held but it was received in New York City (Morgan Annex) on 27 April, 1942.

This cover probably left the USA on board a ship. Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the U.S. Government ordered all ships at sea to take refuge in allied ports and to send any mail on board, to San Francisco. It took some time to process. For example, a large portion of this San Francisco mail was sent to the Vancouver Censor Office and they didn't finish sorting and processing their portion until 07 March, 1942.