Indochina War. Gilbert Calixte PONSOLLE (Soula [Ariège] 1929 - Lot 479

Lot n° 479
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Estimation :
300 - 400 EUR
Indochina War. Gilbert Calixte PONSOLLE (Soula [Ariège] 1929 - Lot 479
Indochina War. Gilbert Calixte PONSOLLE (Soula [Ariège] 1929–2019), soldier. 54 letters from the front, 1949–1953, to his mother; 108 pages, mainly in-4 format. Extensive correspondence on the daily life of a soldier in Indochina, written from Saigon, Haiphong, Qui-Cao, Tonkin, Kien-An, An-Luan Outpost, Hanoi (April 1949–August 1951), and then Phnom Penh (June 1953–February 1955). Assigned to communications, Private Ponsolle served two tours of duty in Indochina, the second of which was spent entirely in Phnom Penh. He wrote his first letter from the Athos, “a beautiful ocean liner carrying nearly 3,000 passengers,” and then again upon his arrival in Saigon on April 27, 1949. “As I promised you, I’ll try to write to you fairly often. You probably haven’t received my second letter yet. Since we don’t do anything all day, I have time to write you a short note. I think we’ll be here until May 2. We’re heading to Tonkin with an armored regiment. It’s been four days since I arrived, and I miss France. Saigon isn’t too bad, though, except for the native quarter, which is dirty and gives off a rather unpleasant odor. […]. Our living conditions are very poor; our room is a shack with no door or window”… Etc. Enclosed are 36 letters written to his mother before his departure from Indochina: from Lamayou (7, in 1946), from Germany (20, mostly from Ravensbrück, in 1948), and from Fréjus (9, early 1949).
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