ARMY POST OFFICES
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

Army Post Offices (APO's) and Fleet Post Offices (FPO's) were used during WW II as a Post Office for military units in a certain area. Each Army Post Office was issued a specific number in a similar way to the Australian Postcodes and U.S. Zipcodes used today.

A typical example of an address for a military person would be as follows:-

Sgt. John Dow, 1907658,
35th Fighter Sqdn.,
APO 922,
C/O Postmaster, San Francisco, California.

The APO 922 would indicate that the 35th Fighter Squadron was stationed in Townsville.

Australian U.S. APO locations:-

APO 921 = Base Section No. 1, Darwin, Northern Territory
APO 922 = Base Section No. 2, Townsville, Queensland
APO 923 = Base Section No. 3, Brisbane, Queensland
APO 924 = Base Section No. 4, Melbourne, Victoria
APO 925 = Base Section No. 5, Adelaide, South Australia until Jan. 1943, then Hqs. 5th Air Force
APO 926 = Base Section No. 6, Fremantle, Western Australia
APO 927 = Base Section No. 7. Sydney, N.S.W.
APO 704 = Cairns, Queensland. After Jan. 1943
APO 714 = Camp Muckley, near Archerfield
APO 711 = Camp Ascot, Brisbane, Q.
APO 500 = General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area. MacArthur's Hqs.
APO 501 = Hqs. U.S. Army Forces Far East

APO 929 = Port Moresby, New Guinea
APO 503 = Base B, Oro Bay, New Guinea
APO 322 = Base F, Finschhafen, New Guinea
APO 565 = Base G, Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea
APO 920 = Base H, Biak, Dutch New Guinea
APO 713 = Base E, Nadzab, New Guinea

APO 75 = Manila, Philippines

Today the APOs & FPOs have five digits e.g:-

APO 96549, Canberra, Australia, U.S. Embassy;
APO 96530, U.S. Consulate, Perth, Western Australia

The mail delivered via these APOs is delivered by military means and not through the regular post offices. This mail is usually transported by the U.S. Air Force couriers.

There were also Shipping Designators for freight. For example:-

There were four letter designators for destinations all over the world.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I'd like to thank Bill Bentson for providing me with all of the information for this page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 28 February 2001

This page last updated 22 February 2020