5 Cents 60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment

Military Payment Certificates proper were issued by the U.S. Treasury, but individual units frequently printed their own scrip for use within a single mess or canteen — entirely outside the official MPC system. This note is one such piece, issued by the NCO Open Mess of the 1st Missile Battalion, 60th Artillery, a Nike missile air defense unit. Nike battalions were scattered across the continental United States and overseas throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, guarding population centers against Soviet bomber attack.

Mess scrip of this type circulated only within the issuing facility and had no value elsewhere. Surviving examples are scarce simply because no one thought to preserve them.