Cross & Crescent

Collecting First Day Covers is not as well known a hobby as stamp collecting but it is an offshoot of this more popular past time. Many FDCs highlight the fraternity or sorority affiliations of famous men and women.

FDCs are envelopes that bear a cancelled stamp (marked as used) on the first day the stamp was placed on sale. It is a graphic or textual presentation of when, where, and why a particular stamp was issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

Eight FDCs from Mike Raymond’s (Miami-Ohio 1967) collection of more than 450 fraternity and sorority FDCs are presented here. All have a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity member as the center of attention and honor, and they represent various graphic styles, colors, and designs.

Most of the FDCs Raymond has collected are complemented by custom made cachets, which is an added illustration or text that describes the stamp’s subject.

Cachet designs are created by using a great variety of techniques that include engraving, letter press, woodcut, embossing, hand painting, silk screening, and laser printing processes.

While some cachets can be quite crude, many qualify as true works of art.

Raymond’s collection is composed of “add-on” cachets that depict, in words or illustrations, the fraternity or sorority affiliation of the person or people honored by the stamp.

In most cases these FDCs are designed with full color coats of arms and additional text that help explain the subject’s association with the college group or groups. Sometimes only text is added to the original cachet and, in rarer cases, only the coat of arms is added.

The following are eight FDCs that are associated with members of our fraternity.

Mickey Cochrane

This FDC is an exception to the others in that it does not directly identify this great baseball player as a Lambda Chi.

Jon Williamson (Maryland 1965), former sports editor of the Cross & Crescent magazine, pointed out that Gordon Stanley “Mickey” Cochrane (Boston University 1925) joined the Philadelphia Athletics in 1924. Before Cochrane’s Major League career ended, he had played in five World Series.

Cochrane was initiated at Boston University and he went on to have a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

His FDC is a beautiful example of the “Legends of Baseball” Century Team. This honored Cochrane as one of the Top 100 professional baseball players of the 20th Century.

Col. Pappy Boyington

This FDC, featuring Col. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington (Washington 1948), brings to mind an interesting episode in our history.

He pledged our Fraternity but due to financial difficulties, he was never initiated by Alpha-Psi Zeta. His initiation was delayed 15 years because of World War II and his earlier financial difficulties.

During World War II, he was the top ace of the U.S. Marine Corps’ famous “Black Sheep” Squadron. His career with the Black Sheep Squadron was made into a popular television series that ran from September 1976 to April 1978. Pappy Boyington’s character was portrayed by TV star Robert Conrad.

As a Medal of Honor recipient during the war, Boyington returned to Alpha-Psi Zeta to be fully initiated into Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle

Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle (California-Berkeley 1918) is probably the most famous of Lambda Chi Alpha’s many military heroes. His exploits in organizing and executing the daring “Tokyo Raid” in 1942 were immortalized in the book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

In 1944, this book was made into a screen play for a popular movie with the same title.

The two Doolittle FDCs shown are very interesting from a fraternal viewpoint. Neither mentions the fact that Doolittle was actually initiated as a member of the Achean Club during his Junior year at the University of California at Berkeley.

After the Achean Club was installed as California Alpha, Doolittle was formally initiated into Theta Kappa Nu in 1928 at the Fourth Grand Chapter in Cleveland, Ohio.

He later became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha with the merger of the two fraternities in 1939.

The 1950 FDC mistakenly identifies his place of initiation as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Lambda Zeta).

President Harry S. Truman

The most popular Lambda Chi honored with a FDC is President Harry S. Truman (Missouri-Columbia HON), 33rd president of the United States.

Much about President Truman’s life and political career can be learned from a close look at the following FDC.

The “In Memoriam” FDC is special because it has six stamps that have a direct relationship to Truman.

Despite the fact that there is little text, much information is still presented to the viewer.

Truman’s various affiliations are identified by coats of arms, seals, and devices.

A quick glance shows that he was a member of Alpha Delta Gamma Fraternity, the American Legion, Freemasonry, DeMolay, and Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

His association with the White House, the end of World War II, Washington, D.C., the United Nations, and the State of Missouri is conveyed through this carefully selected set of commemorative stamps.

The “Harry S. Truman — Thirty-third President” First Day Cover is a beautiful work of art from “ArtCraft”, one of the premier FDC companies.

Familiar images of Truman playing the piano and briskly walking in his white linen suit are coupled with a brief, but informative narrative of his life.

Once again his Masonic affiliation and his membership in Lambda Chi Alpha are represented by fraternal signs and symbols.

As a side note, his little-known vice president, Alben W. Barkley, is identified as a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

The next Truman FDC Raymond calls the “Prez in the Fez”. It is a delightful photograph of Truman wearing his Ararat Shrine Temple Fez.

At one time such headgear was very popular among fraternal organizations. As a matter of fact, a very nice photograph of Warren A. Cole (Boston 1909), and an assembly of his Lambda Chi Alpha brothers, wearing the official Lambda Chi fez, is on display at our headquarters building.

The final FDC, Give’em Hell Harry, commemorates the 100th anniversary of Truman’s birth. A classic ArtCraft steel engraving of Truman and his birthplace in Lamar, Missouri, illustrate the theme of this FDC.

The famous expression “Give ‘em Hell Harry” became the campaign rallying cry for his famous upset victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential race.

Collecting FDCs is affordable, educational, and fun. As in the case of our Lambda Chi brothers, a close examinination of the information and illustrations on FDCs can yield greater knowledge about the historical figures they commemorate.