Joost van Vollenhoven

In the series of stamps featuring portraits of 'Governors' issued in 1944 by the postal service of French Indochina, a Dutch name appears. The stamps were issued on various dates. On October 10, 1944, Governor Joost van Vollenhoven was chosen as the image. Who was he? Joost van Vollenhoven was born on July 21, 1877, in Rotterdam. He was the son of the Rotterdam wine merchant Jacob Johannes van Vollenhoven. However, because his father foresaw a better future for his wine business in Algeria, the family, with their five children, moved from Rotterdam to the then French colony in 1886. In the capital, Algiers, Joost attended primary school together with his older brother Jacob. After primary school, he attended the lyceum, where he was known as an excellent student. He also had plans for the future: he wanted to secure a high position in the French colonial administration. In 1899, he graduated with honors from the 'Ecole Supérieure de Droit' in the capital, Algiers. On February 4, 1899, he became a naturalized Frenchman. As a French citizen, he gained admission to the Ecole Coloniale (colonial school) in Paris, where in 1903, he obtained his degree as a 'Master of Laws', ranking top of his class. He was appointed attaché to the cabinet of the French Minister of Colonies. When France declared war on Germany in August 1914, he served as interim Governor-General of Indochina, present-day Vietnam, from January 1914. Van Vollenhoven endured his stay in the French colony until April 7, 1915, while the fighting raged in Europe. He longed to join the conflict and voluntarily resigned from his position. Van Vollenhoven felt that, as a naturalized Frenchman, he had obligations to his 'fatherland'. In April 1915, he returned to Paris and enlisted as a sergeant in the Regiment Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc (RICM), Morocco's colonial infantry regiment. Joost van Vollenhoven was wounded at Arras on September 25, 1915, and was nursed for seven months. The Order of the Army Corps, a decoration, was awarded to him on October 15, 1915. Colonel Messimy visited him at his hospital bed in April 1916 and appointed him Chief of the General Staff of the 6th Brigade of Foot Hunters (6me Brigade Chasseurs au Pied). For over a year, until mid-May 1917, he oversaw the preparation of the operations in which his unit was involved, including in Alsace, the Somme, and Champagne. He was wounded again on September 16, 1916, and received a second decoration. In April 1918, he was promoted to captain. His regiment successfully defended the 'Lock', south of Roye, on which German offensives were concentrated from March 1918 to July 1918. On April 10, 1918, he was awarded a third decoration: the Order of the Division. On July 18, 1918, at 4:35 a.m., General Mangin's 10th Army, of which the RICM was a part, launched a surprise offensive from the Villers-Cotteret Forest. This offensive was halted by a German counterattack on July 19. The following day, Joost van Vollenhoven, in the front lines, was struck by a bullet in the head and died on the morning of July 20, 1918, at the age of 41. He was buried in Mont Gobert, not far from the village of Longpont. A monument was later erected there for him on November 6, 1936, close to the spot where he was struck by the bullet. On July 28, 1918, he was posthumously awarded a decoration for the fourth time: the Order of the Army. His name appears on one of the plaques in the Panthéon in Paris as a fallen soldier. The stamps were printed in offset sheets of 50 by the 'Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient' in Hanoi. They have very poor perforation (12) due to the soft, frayed paper and were sold without gum. A person relatively unknown in the Netherlands, but appreciated as a war hero in France. And the other governors? They were: Auguste Pavie (1847-1925). Explorer and colonizer of Laos. Governor of Cochinchina. Issue dates: 10 February 1944 (4 cents) and 5 January 1944 (10 cents). Jean Marie de Lannessan (1843-1919). Physician and biologist. Governor-General from 1891 to 1893. Issue dates: 10 December 1944 (1 cent) and 16 October 1944 (15 cents). Paul Doumer (1857-1932). Governor-General from 13 February 1897 to October 1902 and 14th President of France. Issue dates: 15 May 1944 (2 cents) and 15 June 1944 (4 cents). Pierre Marie Antoine Pasquier (1877-1934). Governor-General from 1926 until his death. Issue dates: 1 November 1944 (5 cents) and 11 September 1944 (10 cents). As a latecomer, a 20-cent stamp featuring an image of Auguste Pavie was added on 1 February 1946. The stamps were overprinted by newly independent Vietnam in 1945 and 1946, including the stamps dedicated to Joost van Vollenhoven! An unknown Frenchman with a Dutch name.