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2 Cents Fort George; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Prisoner of War Camp Canteen, Fort George G. Meade |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1946 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black on an orange-tan paper stock, the obverse carries the bold letterpress inscription PRISONER OF WAR across the top, with CAMP CANTEEN set within a solid black rectangular band below. The issuing location FT. GEORGE G. MEADE, MD. appears in the centre field, flanked to the lower left by the caution text NOT GOOD IF DETACHED. To the right, a ruled rectangular vignette encloses the large numeral 2 over the word CENTS, denoting the face value. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | P 2 CENTS W |
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| Comments |
Fort George G. Meade held a substantial population of German and Italian POWs during the Second World War, and the canteen scrip issued there was a direct consequence of the Geneva Convention's requirement that prisoners be allowed access to a canteen and compensated for labor. The U.S. Army standardized this across dozens of camps, but each installation printed its own series, making Meade's scrip a localized artifact of that administrative machinery rather than a centrally produced currency.
Camouflage-print and color-coded denominations were common across American POW scrip to prevent hoarding and transfer outside camp perimeters. The 2-cent value handled the smallest canteen transactions — tobacco, soap, razor blades.