Princess Juliana Barracks, Stratford

From a good acquaintance, I received an envelope sealed with a stamp bearing the text: The Netherlands will rise again. I myself was born in January 1944 and did not consciously experience the Second World War, but this war has always occupied my philatelic interests. Above the seal, a sender was listed: Van Tuyll, Juliana Barracks, Stratford, Ontario, Canada. And that immediately made me curious! For the place name Stratford in Canada is inextricably linked to soldiers who were trained during the Second World War to form a battalion, just like in England. In November 1940, the first volunteers were recruited in Ottawa; conscripts living in Canada and the United States were also required to report. The latter was not a success. An empty MacLagan furniture factory in Stratford was assigned by the Canadian government as a training center. The factory was soon renamed Princess Juliana Barracks. The recruits received six weeks of training here, after which they were assigned to the Princess Irene Brigade in England for further training. Most of them had never lived in the Netherlands and did not speak a word of Dutch. Back to the envelope. I have not (yet) been able to ascertain who Van Tuyll was, but it was clear that he was stationed at the Princess Juliana Barracks. He had 'translated' this into Juliana Barracks. The front of the envelope presented me with a puzzle. Not the mailing date and the stamp from the Stratford post office. The date, August 31, 1942, was Queen Wilhelmina's birthday. Coincidence? Then the addressee. In London on May 10, 1940, the Dutch envoy Jhr. mr. EMFJ Michiels van Verduynen was authorized by the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Shipping, Mr. MPL Steenberghe, to implement the Seagoing Vessel Requisition Act and the Ship Space Conservation Act. To this end, the Netherland Shipping and Trading Committee was established in New York. And Mr. A. Philippe von Hemert was one of the officials working at the Committee's office. Unfortunately, the letter that was in the envelope is no longer present, so the reason Van Tuyll wrote a letter to the Committee cannot be determined. Or was it? Did the question listed under the sender details concern the reason for sending the letter? For the Salvation Army logo was clearly marked with dashes. I have seen envelopes with the Salvation Army logo combined with Canadian Active Service Forces sender details before. But I never thought to find out what the relationship was between the logo and the sender details. The Canadian Active Service Force (CASF) was established by the Canadian government on September 1, 1939. Not to participate directly in hostilities, but to be prepared for a potential war with Germany. And the Salvation Army? The soldiers of the Salvation Army were available to provide moral support to the troops. This was done in every possible way, from providing coffee and refreshments to setting up centers where soldiers could recover from combat. Perhaps Mr. Van Tuyll's unfamiliarity with the work of the Salvation Army—being an unarmed army, albeit one in uniform—was the reason for participating in active service! What do you know about this? Another example that a piece of mail sometimes has much more to tell than what is visible in just a stamp with a postmark.