Cover of the Day 9 June 2020 - FIAP OEA Dominican Republic

[Peter Harvey]

I thought I would show a Frederic Patka cover today, like John Smith, John Daynes and other modern postal historians, there is so much knowledge to be gained from such philatelic items. This also fits well with Alan and his Caribbean theme!

I have a question with this one. So, a March 1966 cover with the cachet BATTALON CENTROAMERICANO HONDURAS (4) FIAP OEA - used by one of the 'Honduras' U.S. funded Central American battalions in the Dominican Republic following the military coup in 1966 - FIAP = Inter-American Peace Force and OEA = Organisation Estados Americanos.

By this date the U.S. troops had withdrawn from the Dominican Republic (mainly U.S. Navy) and I have the date stamp ARMY & AIR FORCES POSTAL SERVICE A.P.O. 09478 (March 1966) recorded in Vietnam, which clearly is wrong. Does anyone else have reference to this US APO 20 March 1966?

Peter