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4 Annas 356th Service Group
| Issuer | 356th Service Group, Officer's Mess |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Plain buff card stock with black letterpress text. Unit number "356" appears at top centre, with the denomination "As. 4" in large bold type below, and "OFFICER'S MESS" in spaced capitals at the foot. No vignette or ornamental underprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 356 As. 4 OFFICER'S MESS |
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| Comments |
Officer's Mess chits from WWII-era India and Burma are among the more obscure categories of military scrip, and the 356th Service Group puts this squarely in the China-Burma-India theater of the USAAF. These were internal tokens of credit — redeemable only within the mess — printed to reduce the handling of coin in forward operating environments where small change was chronically short and local currency management was administratively inconvenient.
The anna denomination signals use within the Indian monetary system, which pegged 16 annas to the rupee. That the mess adopted fractional anna values rather than cents or dollars reflects practical accommodation to the local economy rather than any formal military directive.