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an old handwritten letter and a piece of paper with writing on it
Ader

479 - Indochina War. Gilbert Calixte PONSOLLE (Soula [Ariège] 1929…
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Estimate €300 - €400
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Description
Indochina War. Gilbert Calixte PONSOLLE (Soula [Ariège] 1929–2019), soldier. 54 letters, 1949–1953, to his mother; 108 pages, mainly in-4. Extensive correspondence on the daily life of a soldier in Indochina, written from Saigon, Haiphong, Qui-Cao, Tonkin, Kien-An, An-Luan Post, Hanoi (April 1949–August 1951) and then Phnom Penh (June 1953–February 1955). Assigned to signals, 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 fine liner carrying nearly 3,000 passengers”, and then again on his arrival in Saigon on 27 April 1949. “As I promised you, I’ll try to write to you quite often. You probably haven’t received my second letter yet. As we don’t do anything all day, I have time to write you a short letter. I think we’ll be here until 2 May. We’re off to Tonkin with an armoured regiment. It’s been four days since I arrived and I miss France. Saigon isn’t too bad, though, apart from the native quarter, which is dirty and gives off a rather unpleasant smell. […]. Our accommodation is very poor; our room consists of a shack with no door or window’… Etc. Enclosed are 36 letters written to his mother before he left Indochina: from Lamayou (7, in 1946), from Germany (20, mainly from Ravensbrück, in 1948) and from Fréjus (9, early 1949).
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
Auction location
Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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