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5 Cents Como PoW Camp
| Issuer | Prisoner of War Camp Canteen, Como, Mississippi |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1945 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark blue on orange paper stock, the voucher is divided into two panels: the left panel bears the text 'PRISONER OF WAR CAMP' at top, with 'CANTEEN' set in a bold oval cartouche, below which 'COMO, MISSISSIPPI' and the cautionary legend 'NOT GOOD IF DETACHED' appear in smaller type. The right panel is enclosed in a rectangular border and carries the large numeral '5' above the denomination 'CENTS' in letterpress. The serial number is printed in red ink below the main inscriptions. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRISONER OF WAR CAMP CANTEEN COMO, MISSISSIPPI NOT GOOD IF DETACHED 5 CENTS |
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| Comments |
Como was a small agricultural community in Panola County, Mississippi — hardly the obvious site for a wartime internment facility. The camp there held Axis prisoners, primarily German, under the U.S. Army's Prisoner of War program that eventually housed over 400,000 enemy captives across the continental United States. The canteen scrip system was deliberately designed to prevent PoWs from accumulating U.S. currency, which could fund escape attempts or be smuggled out on repatriation.
Camp-issued scrip at this denomination was produced locally rather than through centralized Army procurement, which accounts for the variation in paper quality and printing found across surviving examples from different Mississippi installations. Camb#7892 is one of the scarcer Mississippi camp issues — Como's population was small and turnover relatively high as labor details rotated to nearby cotton operations.