Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5201.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.95]) by walker.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id th7tp7.294s.37kbi73 for ; Tue, 29 May 2001 15:23:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010529192317.29866.qmail@web5201.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [64.12.102.174] by web5201.mail.yahoo.com; Tue, 29 May 2001 12:23:17 PDT Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 12:23:17 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 349 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 349 Tuesday, May 29, 2001 Memorial Day Message THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER Author Unknown LEAST WE FORGET WHAT HAS BEEN GIVEN FOR OUR FREEDOMS. Things to ponder this upcoming Memorial Day, May 28th THE THINGS THEY CARRIED: They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks. They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets, and steel pots. They carried the M-16 assault rifle. They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence. They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's, and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive. They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms, and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world, and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: "Don't mean nothin'!" They carried memories! For the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity. Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed, or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said "Dear God", and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly, and cringed and begged for the noise to stop, and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die. They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing, and their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world, and the weight of every free citizen of America. Submitted by Bill K(ansas) who also pointed out that as we know many of them carried MPC. Collection Commentary By Joe Boling In preparing my collection to go to Gillio over the past several weeks, I have been reminded of a couple of interesting serial number situations that arose several years ago (OK, many years ago). Recall that in January I reported my initial acquisition of Japanese bonds at The Bamboo Hut here in Seattle, in the early 1970s. One of those was a nice 3.5% Public Loan Certificate of the design shown at SB638 (page 561). I don't recall now whether it was Y100 or Y1000; it strikes me as having been blue, which would be Y100 (I no longer have the piece, having upgraded it). Back around 1977, when I was first researching these, Jerry Altz and I exchanged serial numbers of our pieces. Imagine our surprise to find that we had consecutive serial numbers of this bond. Upon further correspondence, we deduced that they had both been in Walter Loeb's possession at one time, and the he had undoubtedly collected them together. Jerry had obtained his piece from Dr. Loeb, and mine had come from the local dealer who had picked up that segment of the Loeb collection when it was broken up. So, the strange coincidence was not as strange as we had thought. Not long after, though, I had occasion to buy an example of a 1938 Federal Reserve Bank of China 10 yuan note, the first series, large size piece (SB1070), from an Australian auction. I already had one, but the estimate was so low that I put in a saving bid, and won the piece. I was astounded to find that it was a consecutive serial number to the one already in my collection, and these pieces had NOT been together all their lives. They showed distinctly different circulation wear. One was quarter folded, the other single folded. I believe the first one came from Francis Sanders, though I have no invoice to support that (many of the notes I bought from him were in lots, envelopes full, etc, and not separately invoiced). In any event, there was no logical connection between these notes similar to that for the bonds; I can only attribute it to phenomenal coincidence. This leads me to another such event: see the listings for the post-war Japanese civil internment camp in Saigon on SB page 133. I owned the 1 piastre piece (purchased from Makoto Watanabe in 1983). Just a few days after buying it, I was visiting Hitoshi Kozono, who owned the 10 cent piece. I had my cameras with me, and I laid the two notes next to each other to photograph them. It was immediately obvious that they had been together at some time; they had identical folds, and not simple vertical quarter folds, but angled folds that matched. At one time they had come out of Indochina together, then been separated, and now reunited for a few minutes. The one I had is now in the Howard Daniel collection; I've no idea what happened to Kozono's collection, and particularly his 10 cent note. Collectors items can lead strange lives. =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- Of course we are sad to have missed the publication of the Gram for the past three days. This is the longest skip in a long time. (I considered skipping the gram numbers as series 481 serial numbers, but decided that I would get to many requests for the missing numbers!). The biggest regret is that one of the missing days was Memorial Day. This should be an important Gram date. There is and can be no excuse (but I might try). Because of the importance of this date to many Gramsters, we ran the lead story a day late. =========================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Editor, I have been having serious withdrawal pains. Can you send me a fix? David Dear David, We are certainly sorry for not getting the gram out for the past few days. It looks like the brig for the editor! Your reporter/editor went on a social journey over the holiday weekend and all best intentions went astray. There were a few extenuating circumstances, but mostly I just goofed it up! The assistant editors were willing to help, but I did not get the materials ready. The blame rests squarely here. The best that we can do is extend your subscription by three days! Editor Dear Editor, This is to respond to the question 3 on our MPCGram 348. "On E-Bay right now (Item #1239900262) is a five mark MPC-like piece with a 1948 date that I have never seen before. I looked in WWII Remembered and couldn't find anything there. What am I looking at? Any advice is gratefully received." This is Trung T. Nguyen. I am selling this piece (item number 1239900262). I had never seen one in real life, but recall seeing one on ebay months ago. I saw it at a dealer and recognized as an MPC- related note. I listed before the MPC bible, i.e., Fred's book arrived at my desk, but looking through the whole book I was unable to find any information any way. The opening bid is what I paid plus a bit more. Too bad we can not trace the note back to see where it came from. Best regards, Trung T. Nguyen ================================================ 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, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Bill McNease, Marv Mericle, 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 Your items for sale will be listed in the Gram for FREE. Send your listings now. You items for sale support the gram by making it more interesting for everyone! 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 or 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 Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist 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/