Funny Money

[xsubsailor]

Does this bring back memories for anyone ? Hint........you have to be an old fart.

[Grunt67]

9 minutes ago, xsubsailor said:

Does this bring back memories for anyone ? Hint........you have to be an old fart.

Yep!  1967

[GlockSpock]

I am so lost but also so curious. 

[Grunt67]

Speaking from experience,  money used by the military in Vietnam. You had to swap your US currency for the MPC version.

Didn't really matter to me. No place to spend it in the bush.

[No_0ne]

I remember my uncle bringing some of this back and showing us, as well as coins and currency from other Asian nations he had been in while overseas.  I was a bit too young to serve in that era, but the pic does bring back memories ...

[Grand Torino]

Oh man.....I'd completely forgotten about that. 

[ReeferMac]

I was always fascinated by foreign currency as a kid. Slight bent toward numismatics I guess, but was just 'neat' seeing the different shapes, sizes, colors, and designs of international currency. Great gift to bring back from a trip for a kid. Here's 32-cents worth of foreign bills and coins, and a magnifying glass. Kept me busy for hours!

[Grunt67]

One recollection related to MPS's, still pees me off to this day. After I was wounded, taken to the aid station, some asshat(s), stole $175 in MPC I had saved up for R&R.

Took everything except my wedding ring. Didn't know till weeks later when I finally got a chance to go thru my bags.

Thru Senator Baker, the Army replaced the money.

Takes a special kind of SOB to do that.

[xsubsailor]

 We had an Engineman reenlist while we were in the war zone and because of bonuses he was paid something like $12,000 and tax free. When we pulled into Yokosuka he got it all in MPCs, put it in a small duffle bag and went partying.

 He and everyone with him had a really good time but he woke up the next morning on the boat with no duffle bag. He asked everyone that was with him that night but no one had any idea where he'd left it. He borrowed some money and went back into town to drink away his sorrows but when he walked into the Star Light bar (submarine bar) the Japanese bartender started jumping up and down, laughing and waving his duffle bag at him.  There was no way to really know if it was all there but appeared to be.

 

[Grunt67]

On 9/17/2021 at 11:31 AM, Grunt67 said:

Yep!  1967

BTW, I do find myself in the old fart category.

[Grunt67]

4 hours ago, xsubsailor said:

 We had an Engineman reenlist while we were in the war zone and because of bonuses he was paid something like $12,000 and tax free. When we pulled into Yokosuka he got it all in MPCs, put it in a small duffle bag and went partying.

 He and everyone with him had a really good time but he woke up the next morning on the boat with no duffle bag. He asked everyone that was with him that night but no one had any idea where he'd left it. He borrowed some money and went back into town to drink away his sorrows but when he walked into the Star Light bar (submarine bar) the Japanese bartender started jumping up and down, laughing and waving his duffle bag at him.  There was no way to really know if it was all there but appeared to be.

 

I ran across one of your guys in McDs in Lebanon a few days ago, him & his wife. He was a sub sailor too, same age as me ( old fart ), LOL. Had a nice conversation. Nice guy. Always like talking to our vets.

[MacGyver]

Not MPC - but kind of related - a leaflet from the same era: 

 

The top photo is of my grandad at Pearl sometime around late 1943. 

 

 

[Jeb48]

Not quite the same thing but in WW-2 Hawaii printed HAWAII on the back of all the US money on the islands and destroyed the non marked money so if Japan captured the island the currency could be voided. I had a one dollar bill that was in very wrinkled condition and sold it with other coins and bills at a coin auction partially because I knew my Dad had a very nice one in his collection that I would eventually inherit. The one dollar bill brought over $100 at auction. When I inherited my Dad's collection his was gone, he apparently sold it along the way. Oh well not really into collecting coins or currency anyway.

[Grunt67]

2 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Not MPC - but kind of related - a leaflet from the same era: 

 

The top photo is of my grandad at Pearl sometime around late 1943. 

 

 

The US dropped tons of that stuff trying to get the NVA & VC to defect to our side. Don't recall how well it worked. I saw some on the ground occasionally.

I never trusted one as far as I could throw my house. Kinda like the Taliban.

On a side note, I found a 1$ MPC for sale for $149. A collector's item now. Strange world.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Grunt67