Montgomery County sentinel., 1944-08-10
Post Offices
Planning Now
For Gift Mail
Christmas Time For Over
seas Service Men And
Women Sept. Is to Oct. Is

"Save strong string and box ma
terial and start to plan shopping"
Postmaster General Frank C.
Walker advises Americans in an
nouncing the rules for mailing of
Christmas gifts for Army and
Navy personnel overseas.
This year the Christmas mailing
period for both Army and Navy
overseas forces is the same Sep
tember Is to October Is. After
October Is no gift parcel may be
mailed to a soldier without the
presentation of a written request
from him.
The great demands upon ship
ping and the need for giving pref
erence to arms, munitions, medi-
cine and food is the prime reason
for the early mailing date. More
over, gift parcels must travel great
distances to reach Army and Navy
personnel who are located at re-
mote points, and frequently the
transfer of large numbers to new
stations necessitates forwarding of
the packages and additional time
is required.
"The response that our people
made last year during the over
seas mailing period demonstrated
that they will cooperate in any
measure designed for the welfare
of our armed forces personnel" T"
Mr.. Walker said. "It is not easy
to concentrate on Christmas gifts
in the midst of warm weather here
at home but our people recognized
the need, and because they want
the men and women who are alb
sent from their homes to know that
they are not forgotten at Christ
mas they took pains to assure
prompt delivery of Christmas
gifts.
81 know that our people will OBJ
serve the overseas mailing sched-
ule once more this year but do
wish to stress this fact: More care
must be taken in wrapping and
packing parcels securely and ad-
dressing them clearly and cor
rectly.
'It is not a pleasant thing to
visit postal concentration center
and see the numbers of Christmas
parcels which will never reach
servicemen and servicewomen.
Post office personnel have orders
to do everything they can to eff
feet delivery of such gifts, because
we know how important they are
for the happiness Of the armed
forces. Too frequently, nothing
can be done.
81 am sorry that anyone ever
mentioned that the size of shoe
box is the approximate limit for
packages intended for gift mail
ings overseas. Unhappily many
people became convinced that a
shoe box is the best possible con-
tainer. We must be mindful that
these gifts must travel far, with
shipping space crowded. If the
gifts are to be protected in tran
sit they must be packed in boxes
made of metal, wood, solid fiber
board, or strong double-faced cor
rugated fiberboard, reinforced
with strong gummed paper tape or
tied with strong twine.
If both tape and strong twine are
used, so much the better. If the
outer wrapper is crushed-and this
is likely to happen-the loss of
contents may be prevented if
fberboard boxes are wrapped in
heavy paper. .
"We were unable to deliver many
parcels which families and friends
sent to men and women overseas
last year because they were
crushed in transit and the gift and
the outside wrapper became sepa-
rated. We would have been able
to make delivery if the address
had been shown on the inside
wrapper. We advise that every
one write the address Of the send
er and addressee inside the pack
age as we'll as outside.
christmas gifts seem much to
our people overseas. Because
strong twine, heavy paper and
boxes and fberboard will prove Of
real help in making delivery Of