Richard Helbock

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This information was published in the Bulletin Fall of 2011 issue.

Richard W. Helbock March 24, 1938 — May 15, 2011

Richard W. “Bill” Helbock, Ph.D., founder of La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History, in continuous publication for the past 42 years, died of a heart attack at his home in Australia on May 15, 2011

Author of more than 25 books, monographs, and CDs relating to postal history, collectors of military postal history know him for A Price Guide to U.S. A.P.O. Cancels of the Second World War, a collaboration with Jim Forte now in its second edition. His last book, Passed by Army Censor, was the culmination of more than three decades of research on U.S. Army censor markings found on overseas mail from soldiers and civilian contractors in the early years of World War II.

In addition to exhibiting, judging, lecturing, and conducting auctions, Bill also served as editor of this journal from 1988 to 1993, and of the American Philatelic Congress Book from 1999-2005. In 1991 he was granted the Distinguished Philatelist Award by the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society. In 2003 the Northwest Federation of Stamp Clubs selected him as Distinguished Philatelist. Once asked to state his most satisfying contribution to philately, Bill responded that while La Posta was his passion, his work on Alaska provisional censor markings in the early days of World War II may have been his most important work

Military postal histoy collectors who came under Bill’s influence will have their own opinions on his enduring contribution to philately.

MPHS member Kurt Stauffer, an expert on World War II American POW mail, offered his own assessment “Bill made postal history as much about history as about philately and postal markings. He increased our knowledge of early APOs and their corresponding censor marks and he brought the postal history of the fall of the Philippines to everyone’s attention. Finally, he encouraged philatelists to share information and write about it.”

La Posta will continue under the directorship of Bill’s wife, Cath Clark, who has served as editorial assistant.

Timeline

Bill is first mentioned in the Bulletin issue of June 1971.

Bill is listed as a new member Bulletin issue of October 1976.

There are several articles and discussions in Bulletin issues of the 1970’s and 1980’s, regarding his work on Alaska provisional censor markings.

Bill became editor of the Bulletin, announced in the issue of April 1988. Many articles under his byline appeared after that date.

But all was not well with the WCC. Read on for some strong opinions from Bill.

Sobering reading for all members of this Society!

Helbock Messages to the Membership

He published the following in October 1989:

ATTENTION TO ORDERS…

This issue of the BULLETIN kicks off a new Volume - -Number 29 – and concludes 1989. It is the seventh issue produced under my editorship, and, unless there are some major changes, it may be my last!

When I agreed to serve as editor of the Bulletin, I did so on the provision that I would not be required to write original articles to keep the pages filled. Don’t get me wrong, I love to write, but if I choose to publish I prefer to do it in my own journal, LA POSTA.

“No problem,” I was told, “there is a backlog of articles to be published, and our members send in new material all the time.”

So I became editor. The backlog of material to be published turned out to be a box full of correspondence – largely consisting of tear-sheets and photocopies of material published elsewhere – which had been sent to the previous BULLETIN editor who managed to produce no issues of content during his tenure.

The greatest asset available to me in terms of content was Theo. Van Dam’s AEF Book Updates,and that material has continued to provide a major share of our pages ever since I took over.

As far as continuing submissions by the WCC membership, I have been very disappointed. A handful of members have submitted original work, but most of it frankly has been more in the nature of filler – short, one to two-page pieces describing a cover or passing along an anecdote. Granted, this is very important material for an editor to have, and I have greatly appreciated these submissions, but they are filler – not substance!

Frankly, the vast majority of what has been sent in for publication in the BULLETIN has been photocopies and tear-sheets of articles published elsewhere. In other words, the same kind of thing that filled the box of “backlog” stuff I was sent.

Well, WCC members, I’ve got news for you. If you want the official publication of your society to be primarily a venue for reprinting articles relating to military postal history, which have already appeared in other publications, then you’ve got the wrong guy as editor.

We have a membership numbering in excess of 600, and, if we can’t do any better in the way of original research, then I want no part of it!

Mark my words well. This is no scare tactic attempted by a desperate editor to shake up the membership. I mean it! If there is not an immediate improvement in the quantity and quality of material submitted for publicationin the BULLETIN, then I will resign as editor effective with the conclusion of the current volume.

- - - -

He published the following in April 1993:

WANTED: A NEW BULLETIN EDITOR

Over three years ago Theo. Van Dam asked me to take the job of editor of the WCC Bulletin. I agreed, but only because at the time the WCC was in the doldrums and no Bulletin had appeared in over two years. As many of you know, I already have editorial responsibilities to La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History, and this position – along with related activities – provides me with a livelihood, impoverished as it may be.

The fact is that two editorial jobs operating on a fixed calendar are just too much for me. I no sooner get one publication out the door, and it’s time to face the next one. Worse yet, since La Posta is bi-monthly and the Bulletin is quarterly, there are months – such as now (May/June) – when both should be done at the same time.

The result is that the Bulletin runs later than you and I would like, and I’m beginning to resent the pressure this puts on me. As a result, I hereby tender my resignation as editor of the Bulletin effective just as soon as the Society can come up with a volunteer to assume the position.

In my opinion, the MPHS has made considerable strides in the past three years in an effort to turn itself around and become the kind of organization it should be.

Some of the present officers and directors have worked quite hard to breathe life into the Society, and there is no reason why the MPHS should not continue to improve and grow.

It does, however, need a dedicated Bulletin editor, and not a caretaker, or baby-sitter like me. I will look forward to assisting the new editor in what ever way I can, but I am quite serious about my wish to be relieved.

Richard W. Helbock

- - - -

He published the following “swansong” in July 1993:

OUTGOING EDITOR’S FINAL WORDS

Let me begin on a positive note by saying that I am delighted to report that David A. Kent has volunteered to serve the MilPHS as it’s new Bulletin editor. David has established himself in his service with the U.S. Ship Cancellation Society’s Log as one of this country’s top flight philatelic/postal history editors. Please believe me when I say that we of the Military Postal History Society are indeed fortu- nate to have David agree to take on this post.

Having passed along this good news, I don’t want to be a wet blanket and drag members down. But I simply can not let this opportunity pass without speaking out.

What I am about to say therefore, I will say not as the continuing Bulletin editor, but as a life member of the MilPHS who sincerely hopes the organization can continue down the road to improvement which on it has begun to travel during the past few years.

My message is quite simple. The single unifying force of any organization whose membership is spread so widely across the nation as the MilPHS, is its publication. Without its Bulletin, the Military Postal History Society will cease to exist. It nearly did just six or seven years ago!

Conversely, without real participation and support from a significant number of MilPHS members, the Bulletin will die.

My five year tenure as editor of the Bulletin is the second time in the past 15 years that I have worked to resuscitate an American postal history specialty group by restarting its publication. The first time, it was the Alaskan Philatelist, official organ of the Alaska Collectors Club, and, I am pleased to note, after I served as editor of TAP for 3-4 years,the publication has continued to flourish under the editorship of two other collectors and is about to make its third transition.

I must say in all honesty that it was a much more enjoyable experience working with the Alaska Collectors Club than it has been with the MilPHS.

With less than one-forth the membership of the MilPHS (WCC), members of the ACC gave me tremendous assistance by writing articles, undertaking group research projects, and, in general, rushing to the aide of their society. Naturally, not everyone got involved, but a sufficient number jumped in to make the job of resuscitation a pleasure. That was pretty much what I expected when I signed on to edit the WCC Bulletin in 1988.

Boy, was I naive. If it were not for the continuing efforts of Theo Van Dam and a very small handfull of other members who helped fill the pages of the Bulletin by sending along original articles and information, the last five years of MiIPHS (WCC) Bulletins would have been mighty meager reading.

Here we are, an organization of over 500 supposedly active members and the best we can come up with quarter after quarter is a handful of photocopies, clippings and assorted tear sheets from Stars and Stripes, the Postal Bulletin, and other philatelic journals. That’s pathetic!

And then, to top it all, I’d get the occasional letter of complaint from this or that bull goose looney bemoaning the fact that the Bulletin was too full of stuff on World War I, or World War II, and didn’t have enough about his pet topic.

The current issue is no exception. Despite the fact that I am two months late with the July-September issue as this is being written in early November, there is almost nothing on hand to publish. Alan Warren has contributed a book review and has synapses of some major exhibitions with MilPHS participation. John Azarkevich has provided his Secretarial Report and List of New Members, and Stan Jersey has sent a couple little tidbits (including the rather bizarre story of the 1962 U.S. Marines in Thailand on a mission which must have been so sensitive that we can only hint at its purpose 30 years later). Otherwise, nothing, zip, zilch!

As editor of the Bulletin, I have tried to produce a respectable publication on a quarterly basis. More often than not, that has meant filling the majority of the pages with content of my own authorship. That is more than any society should expect of its editor; particularly a society with over 500 members.

Fellow members, wake up!

It’s time for a reality check. If you want the Military Postal History Society to be more like the way you think it should be, get involved. If you want the Bulletin to publish articles and research on topics you are interested in, help out. Get the ball rolling! Stop being a spectator.

This isn’t TV or the NFL. This is your hobby and you are a player!

The society and its publication can go only so far on the efforts of its editor. The newly elected officers are a good group. Alan Warren and John Azarkevich, particularly, have been very helpful recently in providing Bulletin copy, and Stan Jersey has certainly done his best. They can provide a strong nucleus of growth for the MiIPHS, but they can’t – by themselves – take on all the research, writing and publishing activity necessary to have a viable society organ. We must help them provide our new editor with sufficient diverse copy to make his job not only possible, but enjoyable. With David Kent as our Bulletin editor, we are getting a new lease on life. Let’s not let it slip away through our indifference and lack of effort.

Richard W. Helbock

Bob Swanson’s Notes

Bill was always very supportive of my publishing efforts. He was the first postal history collector to provide information that became the seed of my book on First World War military facilities of the U. S.

My wife and I had the pleasure of spending time with Bill and Cath in Australia during a 2008 visit, our first to that very special country.

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