The ink drawing of a soldier relaxing, titled “Just call me spineless,” is a self-portrait of Corporal Jack Fogarty, who is shown slumped down with a leg resting on the back of a train car seat. Fogarty was on leave from the Desert Training Center in Yuma, Arizona and writing to his pen pal Mary MacDonald, who was staying in Yuma to visit her husband John. The cover has a 6-cent airmail stamp (C25) and two 3-cent Washington stamps (807) that were cancelled in New York in February 1944.
Jack Fogarty served with the US Army’s 98th Evacuation Hospital during World War II. While working in the hospital’s administrative office, Corporal Jack Fogarty (later promoted to Sergeant) struck up a life-long friendship with Chief Warrant Officer John MacDonald and his wife, Mary. Jack and John both wrote regularly to Mary as the war took them to the Pacific Theater. John MacDonald also served as a censor for the unit, and the illustrated covers by Jack Fogarty bear MacDonald’s censor stamp and signature. In his correspondence with Mary, Jack filled the envelopes with scenes in watercolors, ink, and pencil. The illustrated covers show Jack’s life at the Desert Training Center in Yuma, Arizona, and his overseas service in New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan. In addition to illustrating his personal correspondence, Jack contributed artwork to the 98th Evacuation Hospital’s newsletter, The Bulletin. After the war, Fogarty’s artistic career took him into acting and his prolific correspondence with friends sometimes included illustrations.
References:
Fogarty, John. Little Boy-Short Trousers-Eaton Cap: This I Remember. AuthorHouse, 2005.
