10 Cents Navy Yard; Pearl Harbor

Scrip issued by the Officers' Club at Pearl Harbor in 1942 occupies an odd corner of American military monetary history. Base and post exchange scrip was common throughout U.S. military installations during the war — its purpose was to prevent American currency from circulating in occupied or foreign territory and falling into enemy hands. At Pearl Harbor in 1942, that rationale had an additional edge: the base had been attacked just weeks or months before this scrip entered use, and strict control of currency movement was both a security and a morale concern.

The pink paper distinguishes this denomination within the series — color-coding was the simplest anti-substitution measure available to locally printed scrip.