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Military Payment Certificate


Pulp, SASS#28319

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What exactly is this?  I'm guessing it was kind of like "mill money" that big companies used to pay their employees with, and was only good at the company store.  I'm going through old totes of my mom's and came across this.  Pretty art work, even it it's worthless.

img075.jpg

img076.jpg

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US personnel were prohibited from using American currency in Vietnam. You turned in your greenbacks and received the MPC in exchange. This was to prevent US dollars from entering the black market. The MPC could not be used on the local economy. You had to have Vietnamese currency, commonly called Piasters for the pre war French system, but actually called Dong in the Vietnamese banking system. No coins were used with MPC,
only the scrip in 5cents and above denominations. PITA to have a bunch of bills in 5-10 cents value.

The bills would be changed every few years to a different type and you had to exchange them again. This rendered the black market MPC in the hands of locals useless.

imagine if you had to go turn in your greenbacks for different ones every few years!

 

In Occupied Japan after the war we used the same type system.

 

Some people collect them but they’re not worth much. I have a handful somewhere.

 

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Thanks UB.  I’d reckon this was from Japan when we lived there ‘53-54.  Dad was an MP.

But it could be Vietnam, as my brother was there in ‘68-69.  
 

Like Widder said, wonder who the woman is?  Sure enough easy on the eyes.

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I think they just used generic images on the bills. I remember when we change to a new series in 69-70 there were no cute chicks on them. A sub, an astronaut, some jets, a pilot etc. Boring.
 

https://www.moneyfactory.gov/images/FactSheet_MilitaryPaymentCertificates_20140123.pdf
http://militarypaycertificate.blogspot.com/p/vietnam-era-mpcs.html

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Thanks UB.  I’d reckon this was from Japan when we lived there ‘53-54.  Dad was an MP.

But it could be Vietnam, as my brother was there in ‘68-69.  
 

Like Widder said, wonder who the woman is?  Sure enough easy on the eyes.

The 641 series was only used in Vietnam.

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Howdy Pat.

I Goggled it and found a lot of info about those pay certificates.

 

Like you, I couldn't find any info on the picture.

Maybe it was General Westmoreland's house keeper..... ;)

 

..........Widder

 

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I still have some "Occupation Currency" from WW II that my dad gave me.

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Oh, Laura....That explains it. Laura, yeah, I know Laura...Laura...What's her last name?...I forget....

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When I (U.S. Army) was stationed in S. Korea in 1972, we also used MPC.  Our MPC was changed about every six months.  The color of the bills would be changed, i.e., blue to red or green to blue, etc.

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We hired a new Vietnamese house keeper and the first day I left some "Monopoly money" on the night stand.  When I got back that evening I found my skivvies, socks, and about $15.00 all neatly ironed and stacked on that same nightstand. 

 

Just for fun my roomie left a small an mount of cash and a letter from his daughter (or wife?) and got the same results.

 

The agency that we used to hire the ladies told them to iron everything and they took it as a requirement.

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A year or two ago, a friend sent me a pair of jungle boots I needed for display. He said they had been sitting around for decades in a closet and wouldn’t take any payment. I sent him $25 in MPC. He thought it was hilarious. :)

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A year or two ago, a friend sent me a pair of jungle boots I needed for display. He said they had been sitting around for decades in a closet and wouldn’t take any payment. I sent him $25 in MPC. He thought it was hilarious. :)

And he was right!  :lol:

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