by Major Roy Thomas
My tour with the military component of the United Nations Mission in Haiti began on deployment 16 July, 1995 and ended with my return to Canada on 14 July, 1996. It was my seventh UN mission and my fifth UN tour totalling 4 ½ years under the blue flag.
The official mailing address for the Canadian contingent was rank, name, last three of service number followed by:
OP Pivot could be followed by either UNMIH (United Nations Mission in Haiti) or CCIH (Canadian Contingent in Haiti). My job was actually in the 
UN as opposed to the contingent headquarters so I knew that my mail might take time to reach me as clerks in several locations had to determine who I was and where I work. I had most of my mail directed to me at "UNMIH HQ U3" which told the Canadian clerk that I was one of the 38 Canadians at the UN HQ and then when received by the HQ military mail room that I was in Operations. Some people even were more specific using my callsign, "U3A". None of my correspondence ever had "OP Pivot" on it.
The postal code and address changed however when the postal corps disappeared in April. On 1 March, 1996, the "OP Pivot" had already been replaced by "OP Standard". Then the CFPO became replaced by Box 5057, Forces Station, with Belleville, ON remaining but K8N SW6 replacing KOK 3RO. I have only a few letters with the corrected postal code as the post office in Belleville cooperated in forwarding correspondence with the old CFPO postal code.
On 1 July, Canada renamed the operation "Stable", while to satisfy the Chinese priviso that the UNMIH date would terminate on 30 June, 1996, the United Nations renamed the mission United Nations Support Mission in Haiti or UNSMIH.
Mail, of course, could be directed to two United Nations addresses. My UN mailing address in Port-au-Prince included the usual rank and name, and I added again "UNMIH HQ U3" as civilian agencies such as MICIVIH (the joint UN/OAS Civilian Mission in Haiti) or UNCIVPOL (the UN Civilian Police) were also served by Box 1602, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, West Indies. I don't know why the "West Indies" was necessary, but it was reflected in the official address, and most of my correspondence seemed to reach me without this addition.
Mail could also be directed to me through the United Nations headquarters in New York. This address in addition to name and rank had to clearly identify the mission, UNMIH in my case, and again to be sure, I had U3 Operations added. The remainder of the UNHQ New York forwarding address for UNMIH (now UNSMIH) was as follows:
The American military postal system was available for use as long as the Americans were part of the UN military component (15 April, 1996). This address besides the rank, name, "UNMIH HQ U3" was as follows:
Only Canada, the US and the Netherlands, of the 19 different nations in the military component at its maximum strength, had a military post office. Unfortunately I didn't start using the Dutch system used by my Netherlands Marine housemate until their office closed on withdrawal of their contingent. It was:
I did receive a military letter addressed to the Attaché Section of NDHQ which eventually did reach me and I suppose another avenue would have been through the Canadian Military Attaché at the Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it's Box 500 forwarding address in Ottawa.
I also sent myself a postcard to the Haitian accomodation where I lived. The address that I used via US mail was:
Our actual address was 10 Lucien Hibbert, Morne Calvaire, but the postcard arrived within two weeks. I must admit that I copied the mailing address that I saw on the landlady's mail.
©1996, Major F.R. Thomas
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