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5 Cents Fort Benning PoW Camp
| Issuer | Fort Benning Prisoner of War Camp |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark red ink on pink paper, the obverse carries a letterpress layout divided into two sections. The left portion bears three lines of bold uppercase text reading FORT BENNING / PRISONER OF WAR / EXCHANGE, with EXCHANGE set within a solid rectangular band, below which appears the void date inscription Void After 25 June 1945 alongside a printed serial number. To the right, a bordered cartouche contains the large numeral 5 above the word CENTS. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain pink paper surface with no text, vignette, or decorative elements of any kind. |
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| Comments |
Fort Benning held Axis prisoners — primarily German and Italian — under the Geneva Convention's requirement that captives be compensated for labor. These scrip notes were the mechanism: PoWs received them as wages, then spent them within the camp canteen system. The currency was deliberately non-negotiable outside the wire, preventing it from functioning as escape currency or entering local civilian commerce.
Pink paper was not cosmetic — color-coding denominations reduced counterfeiting and simplified canteen accounting. Similar color-differentiated scrip appeared at dozens of American PoW installations, though individual camp printings varied considerably in quality and design execution.