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5 Cents Fort Niagara PoW Camp
| Issuer | Fort Niagara Prisoner of War Camp Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944-1946 |
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| Value | 5 Cents (0.05 USD) |
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| Obverse description | Cream-colored voucher produced by letterpress in blue ink, with the bold abbreviation "P. W." at top center above a banner cartouche bearing the inscriptions "CAMP CANTEEN" and "FT. NIAGARA, N. Y.". A boxed denomination panel to the right carries the value "5 CENTS". A typeset red serial number appears below the central text block. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | P. W. CAMP CANTEEN FT. NIAGARA, N. Y. 5 CENTS |
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| Comments |
Fort Niagara, a 19th-century fortification at the mouth of the Niagara River, was repurposed during World War II as a prisoner of war camp holding German and Italian captives. Under the Geneva Convention, the U.S. Army was required to provide canteen privileges to POWs, and scrip was the practical solution — it prevented prisoners from accumulating U.S. currency that might fund escape attempts.
The Youngstown printing origin is simply geographic: the camp sat within that postal district. Campbell reference 8146 places this within a well-documented series of American POW canteen issues, most of which were destroyed after camp closure.