OfficersMess at Kwa@l.ein.’1 13. APO ESTABLISHMENT: a. Initialplanningfor efficientmail servicein the forward areaswas confrontedwith many difficultiesbut all these difficulties were resolvedin time. It was decidedthat for shorebasedpersonnela new APO wouldbe established.It was consideredthatthe use of an” establishedAPO would,becauseof increasedvolume of mail,much of it showingnew unit designations, give away the locationof the Task Force operation,the possiblescopeof the operationand even the generaltime of the tests. An unusedAPO unit availableat USARPACwas therefore activated. This APO had no printedfoxms,howeversuch as Money Orders, showingthe APO designation.Procurementof these formsfrom the Postal Departmentnormallytakes about 60 days. By energeticaction,however, J-1 secured the printedformsin less than a week and just in the to set-upAPO 187 on 15 Nov 47 for shorebasedpersonnelat Kwajaleinand Eniwetok. MlOat personnelused Navy postaldesignations.On 1 December shorebasedpersonnelat Kwajaleinused Navy 824. Initially,delivery of some ma’ilwa8 delayedend occasionally somewent astray. This was causedmainlyby the secretclassification of the geographical location of the APO. For instance,mail poucheswere”permittedto be markedonly ‘APO 187.” Some poucheewent to Guam and were held in postalinstallations there sincethe geographicallocationof APO 187 was unknownthere. JUSO in this connection,sinceonly the Navy had a CourierTransfer officerat Kwajalein,couriermail went by NATS. Many difficultieswre 20 SectionI ..