Wardle, D. L., Colonel (U.S. Army Quartermaster School)

Handwritten letter on US Army Letterhead Detailing and Apologizing for a 'Red-Tape" Snafu with hand-addressed envelope. [ Vietnam War ]

Description
Fort Lee, Virginia to APO New York: U.S. Army Quartermaster School / Privately Mail-Dispatched, 1966.

Two-page autograph letter signed, executed in dark blue ink on a single sheet of official letterhead (verso blank for page two). Housed with its matching original hand-addressed and stamped Air Mail envelope. An incredibly candid, high-level piece of military correspondence tracking the friction between senior officer management and field personnel during the height of the Vietnam War.

Writing directly to Master Sergeant Allen B. Correll of the U.S. Army Mortuary System, Colonel Wardle directly addresses a severe administrative delay regarding transit assignment instructions, explicitly blaming the delay on military bureaucracy and admitting that command channels sometimes get things fouled up.

Key Features
+++ Visuals: The letterhead displays a crisp, bold Department of the Army circular emblem with the official Department of Defense seal at the upper left margin. 
+++ Media: Written on standard lightweight military-issue bond paper; envelope features pre-printed red and blue Air Mail border designations along with two original 5-cent blue George Washington postage stamps.
+++ Postal History: Envelope displays a distinct machine-stamped duplex postmark from Fort Lee, Virginia, dated May 3, 1966, 3:00 PM. +++ Specs: Letter sheet measures 8.0 x 10.5 inches; envelope measures approximately 9.5 x 4.0 inches.
+++ Transcription Anchor: Includes an incredibly frank, copy-specific piece of advice instructing the Sergeant to bypass standard waiting procedures: Recommend you have Major Caldwell or one of his people start burning the wires up to finalize things.
+++ Unusual Military Association: Addressed to a highly specific and somber branch of the service—the U.S. Army Mortuary System stationed at the 20th Station Hospital—a unit that handled the grim, high-pressure logistics of processing deceased service members during the expansion of operations in Southeast Asia.

Condition: Very Good / Fine Postal Survival
+++ The Letter: Displays standard crisp horizontal mailing folds. The paper remains uniformly bright white, completely clean, and free from tears, thumbing, or toning. The ink is bold, fluid, and perfectly legible.
+++ The Envelope: Exhibits a rough, contemporary tear along the right vertical edge where it was originally opened by the recipient, resulting in minor paper loss to the blank margin edge, well clear of the stamps, postmark, and manuscript address. Light overall storage dusting.

Historical Significance —
While official military archives are dense with formalized, typed orders that present a veneer of seamless efficiency, this private autograph letter provides a rare, unvarnished look at the internal frustrations of military administration during a critical period of 1960s troop deployments. The year 1966 marked a massive escalation in American military infrastructure, putting unprecedented strain on logistical hubs like the U.S. Army Quartermaster School at Fort Lee.

This letter exposes the friction caused when those administrative networks failed field personnel. The fact that a full Colonel would put pen to paper to apologize to a Master Sergeant—using terms like red tape and openly declaring that command channels sometimes get things fouled up—revealed a deep breach of standard bureaucratic decorum, likely driven by the critical nature of Correll's assignment in the Mortuary System. 

By capturing this raw moment of management transparency, the Wardle-Correll letter stands as an excellent primary source for historians studying the operational reality, internal communication breakdowns, and human infrastructure of the mid-century American military machine.

SUBJECTS: Military Logistics, Vietnam War Era Ephemera, Bureaucratic History, Postal History / Air Mail, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps.
GENRES: Autograph Letters Signed (ALS), Envelopes, Postal History, Military Correspondence.

Transcription
[Letterhead Printed Text:] DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY U.S. ARMY QUARTERMASTER SCHOOL FORT LEE, VIRGINIA 23801
[Manuscript Text:]
3 May 1966
Dear Sergeant Correll: Your letter was received some days ago and I can certainly understand your concern. Needless to say I was a bit upset to.
Without going into the whole picture I will only say that things are finally ironed out and I have been assured by Col Snider, AG Personnel, AMCENFL, only this morning, that assignment instructions left OPO last Friday by TWX. He says they (USAREUR) should have had them by Saturday morning – so ComZ should have a copy by now.
Recommend you have Major Caldwell or one of his people start burning the wires up to finalize things. I think you can still get a port call by 20 May.
[Page 2]
Will explain the red tape when you get here – but for now will only say that command channels sometimes get things fouled up.
Have a nice trip.
Sincerely Col. Wardle
[Envelope Address Text:]
[Return Address:] Col. D. L. Wardle 1662 Brandon Ave Petersburg, Virginia
[Main Address:] Master Sergeant Allen B. Correll U.S. Army Mortuary System 20th Station Hospital

Item #22081

Price: $100.00