Four New Cards

My mail today brought me 4 new postcards. Cards arrived from Reunion Island, Malaysia, Great Britain and France. I will be highlighting the cards from Reunion and France. I want to acknowledge the other 2 cards. The Malaysia card was sent by Yen , who has a blog entitled Ian's Collection at http://kajang-stamps.blogspot.com . The 2 stamps Yen used are : 1 of a set of 8 definitives, issued in 2005, featuring birds and in this case , The Spotted Dove , and a nice commemorative from 2007, showing The J.W.W. Birch Clock Tower. James Wheeler Woodford Birch (1826-1875) was the first British resident in Perak, Malaysia. Without going into much detail, let's just say Birch was speared to death with taking a bath, apparently due to the fact that he outlawed slavery in Perak. The clock tower, built in 1917 is a memorial to Mr. Birch.

Another card , not shown was sent by Liz from Great Britain. It is a result of my participation in The Postcard Exchange Game. This is the first card I have received from it, but it's nice to know that it works. Hopefully more will arrive as a result.

The first card shown is from Reunion Island . It shows a shoreline scene from reunion. Reunion no longer issues its own stamps, but uses stamps from France. That in itself is kind of unique, but then , how often does one receive mail from Reunion Island. The card was sent to me by Caramellia, a fellow Postcrosser, living there for just a year. The beautiful stamp , bearing the Polar Bear was issued in 2005, to commemorate Francois Pompon (1856-1933). He was a French sculptor. He is quite famous for his stylized animals with L'Óurs Blanc in 1922 ( often called the White Bear or Polar Bear in Stride). The original in located at the Musee d' Orsay in Paris. This stamp is indeed a truly beautiful stamp . Thanks Cara.

The last card to show today is a very special card. It was sent to me by Stephane Cotard of France. The front of the card shows a few views of Caen, France. This is not the special part of this card., it's what is on the back that is so special. Even though the card was posted in France , Stephane was able to use a stamp from St. Pierre & Miq. According to Stephane, this stamp was only able to be used in France for a couple of days in January of this year. It has a couple of special postmarks , bearing the first Day of Issue of the SPM stamp, 16/01/08. The SPM stamp , issued in 2008, commemorates Rene Autin, a native of St. Pierre. Autin was part of the Kieffer Commandos, 177 Free French attached to the British commandos, who landed on Sword Beach in Normandy on D-Day in 1944. On that day, the only Free French forces involved in D-Day landings( the 177 men of the Kieffer Commandos) disembarked at Ouistrehan ( Sword Beach).They were granted the honour to set foot on Norman soil in the first wave.
The reference to Paquebot , lower left , is unknown to me , but it may be the reason that a St. Pierre stamp could be used in France.