Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5202.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.170]) by runyon.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tf6l53.hhm.37kbi7f for ; Fri, 4 May 2001 21:17:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010505011721.1431.qmail@web5202.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [152.163.197.84] by web5202.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 04 May 2001 18:17:21 PDT Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 18:17:21 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 329 To: MPCGram@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ==================================================== MPC Gram ==================================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ---------------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 329 Friday, May 4, 2001 Allied Use of MPC (before Vietnam) By Phil Goldstein I received a very interesting email, a few days back, from a military historian, who served with the Canadian Air Force. Below is a copy of his email to me: Greetings from Mexico. Like so many others, I maintain a web site on the Internet. In my case, it is military related - Canadian Air Force to be exact. We had a total of 5 Canadian bases in France and Germany between 1952 and 1967. It is my understanding that our personnel were paid with MPC between 1952 and 1958 when scrip was withdrawn and personnel were then paid in American dollars. I have been fortunate enough to have a collector send me a JPG photo of two (small denomination) examples - Series 521. Could you, time and interest permitting, provide me with a little detail on the intent and use of military scrip (as would have been the case in France and Germany between 1952 and 1958) and perhaps suggest where I could obtain a JPG photo of a few additional pieces of Series 521 scrip? Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Best regards from the sunny south. Ren I responded promptly, as I had always believed that only US service personnel used MPC, with the exception of Vietnam in which various personnel from different countries utilized MPC, but were commanded by MACV with US in charge. My reply was basically, that I believed his information to be incorrect. His response was: Hello again. I will try to provide some detail. Canada is no different today than it was 50 years ago. A large country, underpopulated for its size, and not much money to spend. None the less - after the war we found ourselves as a participant in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization.) As a nation we were to provide Air Force and Army personnel. The Canadian Army (I know little of them) went to northern Germany while the Canadian Air Force was to have 5 stations in Europe. Two of the airfields were located in France, two in Germany, and our Headquarters was also located in France. The first of the Canadian Air Force personnel arrived in 1952 and by 1955 we were pretty well established - even with our own long range radar station. I do not know the actual logistic but I can verify that our Canadian military personnel made use of American military scrip and I can verify that we stopped using American military scrip on 27 May 1958. I am NOT claiming that the American military and other countries ceased using scrip on that date - just that the Canadian Air Force military personnel in France and Germany stopped using scrip on that date. This detail is documented in official records which I have obtained from the National Archives of Canada. So then - I would assume that Canadian Air Force personnel would have been in a general state of flux during those years (52-58). We would have received scrip which would have been OK in American or Canadian military installations - but we would have been expected to pay - making use of local currency, the French franc or the German mark - for any item purchased on the local economy. After the use of scrip - we were paid in US currency (you figure it out). I myself, spent 10 years in Europe with the Canadian military. My first tour was in France (1960-1965) and I return to West Germany (1974 1979). I recall arriving in 1960 (age 20), being paid in US dollars, and crossing into Luxembourg to exchange this into other currencies. Best regards. Ren Well now, you can imagine that big fat question mark hanging over my head, as well as my confusion about this matter, so I contacted Fred. He also stated MPC was US only, except for Vietnam, but as I read Ren's letter to him, both he and I began to think otherwise. It would be thought Canada would use British Armed Forces Special Vouchers. But Fred concluded that Canada uses dollars and cents, like US, not shillings / pence of the UK, therefore it began to seem like a good possibility. Then I had a thought. Ren mentioned he used Series 521, and there were three printings of Series 521. Was one of those printings produced for Canadian use? I know this seems like a long shot, but think: Forbes receives an order for the first printing for US forces. There were not enough, so the second printing was ordered. Now, the Canadian Military joins in, and it is not equipped for payment of soldiers, and piggy backs the US MPC system. The third printing coincidentally has the lowest printing quantities of the three printings. This unfortunately does not explain why the $5 and $10 were not printed. Fred also added he did not see or recall any BEP documents with any information pertaining to Canada. Another unanswered question: why did the Canadian military turn in Series 521 on the appropriate withdrawal date, and then issue US Currency, instead of Series 541??? In Ren's defense, he did state the Series 521 withdrawal date accurately, and does not own the Comp Catalog of MPC. I know this is all circumstantial evidence, but I think it will lead to an important discovery. I have requested Ren to send any and all documentation proving (or disproving) the use of MPC by Canadian military personnel. What Fred and I request of all of you, is to keep eyes and ears open for new information, and I ask something else: I would to see if Series 521 notes found in Canada are predominately above a certain serial number range, to prove my multiple printing theory, so forward all SN data to me at: IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Well, it's Friday night, so it's time to go fast and turn left... Racing season starts tonight. Talk to you all soon, and hope you all had a good read and have great evening! ==================================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Phil’s “discovery” of the use of MPC by Canadian forces is wonderful. While a little more verification would be nice, the concept of the story makes sense. Some details probably will require revision as the matter is studied. Phil’s speculation about a printing of Series 521 being specifically for the Canadians is a big stretch but by any standard this is a wonderful revelation. It now seems that the following countries issued/used MPC in addition to the United States: Australia, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Thailand. Wow. =================================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Gram, I just wanted to advise that recently while at the monthly meeting of the Comanche County Coin Club, Doug Bell was kind enough to attend our meeting and give a talk about U.S. MPC to the club. Doug was very informative and gave an excellent talk about MP. He kept the interest of everyone in the club and It was very obvious about how excited he is about MPC :-). I also got to listen to Doug give a similar talk at the Stephens County Club , which is a county next to Comanche County and of which we are both Members. I just wanted to thank You Doug and to let the other gram members know what a good job he is doing in stiring interest in MPC. Sam Feeback =================================================== Departments --------------------------------------------------- WWII numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar 2001 --------------------------------------------------- Not only does the scholarship fund have an official identity but also has a bank account! Any further donations should be paid to the order of "Military Numismatists Scholarship" and sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 THE UPDATED LIST OF SCHOLARSHIP BENEFACTORS 3/22/01. These folks have generously provided money or material to finance scholarships to the ANA WWII Numismatics seminar. Your contributions will help promote collecting WWII material and be greatly appreciated. Many donations were received at CPMX and MPCFest. Mr. Anonymous Donor, Mike Cummings, Sue and Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Mel and Jeremy Steinberg, Marcus Turner, Larry Ski, Guido, Fred, PK6, Joel Shafer, World Wide Ventures, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Neil Shafer, W. E. Yanchick, Mark Watson, Al Glaser, Phil Goldstein, Rod Hardy, Wesley Hardy, Gary Hicks, Jack Lippincott, Ian Marshall, Kevin Maloy, David Seelye, Nick Schrier, Elmer Smith, Dan Swartz, Tom Warburton, Dick Freyser, Tim Kyzivat ==================================================== Post/Base Exchange (PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram. This service is for everyone, most humble dealer or most advanced collector. The point is to make the gram more interesting. Send in a list of items for sale and we will list them here in the gram. In all cases confirm your order via email first. FOR SALE Here is what is available from MPCFest II: Souvenir card $25 (50 produced) Bronze “challenge coin” $5 Copper “challenge coin” $25 (silver sold out, only one of copper available) In addition to the above souvenirs, the following MFC Series 011 notes are available at face value. Note, these are NOT souvenirs as they are still current and spendable. Series 011 $1, 2, 5, 10, and 20, total face value of one set $38. Payment can be accepted by all of the traditional means including paypal using fred@papermoneyworld.com. Traditional paper payments may be sent to Fred Schwan, 132 E. Second St., Port Clinton, Oh 43452. WANTED Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items are then encouraged to list them for sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tueseday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski cloumnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski – ski@papermoneyworld.com critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@papermoneyworld.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.com; The Boss: Judy Schwan ===== MPC Gram is published by BNR Press and papermoneyworld.com as a free service to the community of military money collectors. Your suggestions, criticisms, complaints, editorial contributions, letters, and even praise are very welcome. The entire contents including linked illustrations are copyright protected by the publishers. In the case of contributors, the copyright is protected on behalf of the creators. Please send all correspondence regarding the gram to MPCgram@yahoo.com. Thank you very much for your participation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/