US military V-mail

Yes, V-Mail was photographic mail - letters were photographed in the military field and transferred to microfilm, allowing for vast savings in cargo weight and space for transport back to the US (2575 pounds of mail were replaced by 45 pounds of film).  When they were in the US, the letters were then printed from the film and delivered onward to their destination.  The Airgraph was the British (and Commonwealth allies) version which pre-dated American entry into WWII.  There are many studies and exhibits available online, here are a couple of quick one-page explanations of this interesting service.

Smithsonian National Postal Museum

old archived BBC exhibit

Among the interesting things to be learned was that the microfilm method of transporting military documents dates all the way back to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, with the images sent via pigeon!

Ryan

I think the last 2 lines in pencil are 5th Gen Hosp
You might pick up something of interest on this site:

www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/5th-general-hospital/

According to jaycee's website the 5th General Hospital was stationed in Northern Ireland at the time of the mailing of this envelope. I wonder (thinking out loud), if this letter, originally sent to the US from Britain (location of original posting unknown) was sent to Brooklyn, as indicated on the markings, was GOING to be sent back to Ireland, but was then rerouted to Lovell Hospital in Mass.?

Without the letter and it's original addressee, we may never know. All speculation from here.

BRILLIANT Steve! Thank you thank you thank you.
Knew I could count on the brilliant minds of TSF.
Knowing that, now I look at the cover under 10x magnification, I can see the Lovell General Hospital pencil does cross over top of the TRFD. stamp, so it was applied afterwards.

The British Airgraph also has written in pencil on the front 'Tfd to C. G. N.Y.P.E.' I see that now I know what I'm looking at. BUT that notation has been crossed out, like the 5th Gen Hosp. notation on the V-mail cover.
A rubber stamp date on the front of the Airgraph is Nov 24. The V-mail is rubber stamped Nov 25 on the front, near the C.G. NYPE stamp.

Both were received in Brooklyn on the following day, November 26, 1942, and both were back cancelled with a large NYPE mark on the same day, November 28, 1942. I see on the inter web that one of the NYPE other function, or Technical Services, as they are called, is Postal.

Since I purchased them together, and many of their markings are so similar, I'm going to take a leap of faith and suggest they were both sent to the same person, or at least travelled together. I am going to guess, and tell me if you think it's far fetched, that both were rerouted to Lovell through the postal department at the NYPE.
The British Airgraph was not going back to Ireland. So I'm thinking that before the letters were put on a ship back across the Atlantic, the recipient was found in Lovell, and both letters were rerouted on November 28 to Fort Devins.

I do love a mystery!