USS Brooks DD-232
By Glenn Smith
Data Sheet #12 Under Review & Revision
Data Sheet #12 ( A Listing of Foreign and Domestic Port Locations Appearing Within the Killer Bars of U. S. Naval Cancels) (DS#12) is currently under review and revision. It was last updated in 1991 by Lawrence Groh, and since that time a number of unlisted port locations have been discovered.
Members who have covers with port locations not currently listed in DS#12 are encouraged to share that information with Glenn Smith (USCS 8083) via email at: highlandglenn (at) kuhncom.net. Or by snail mail at:
3571 Orrstown Road
Orrstown, PA 17244
The best way to share the information is with a scan (that minimizes the possibility of error by the editor), or by describing the port location as precisely as possible, i.e.: exact wording between killer bars (including misspelling(s)). For example, the info necessary for the below example would be: (the editor will research and provide the required coordinates)
Benshoff I/Alaska (Coordinates) Brooks 7/35
Note: The slash / divides the wording between the first and second killer bar from the wording between the second and third killer bar. The date required is just the month and year.
By the way, Benshoff I/Alaska (look closely, there is an I after Benshoff) appears to be a completely fictitious place. Extensive research was conducted, including the contacting of three different offices of the state government of Alaska, and no record of a Benshoff Island exists. The letter was addressed to a W. A. Benshoff, and the Brooks Navy Mail Clerk (NMC) was one of the most proliferate users of wording the KBs. It appears the NMC was ‘personalizing’ a letter for one of his regular naval cover collectors. If anyone can say with certainty where Benshoff Island may be, please also share that information with DS#12 editor Smith.