5 Cents Kilmer PoW Camp

Camp Kilmer, located near New Brunswick, New Jersey, functioned primarily as a staging area for troops deploying to and returning from Europe — but it also held German and Italian prisoners of war, who were permitted to earn wages for labor and spend them only within the camp canteen system. The scrip was deliberately non-convertible to U.S. currency, satisfying Geneva Convention requirements while preventing any accumulated funds from being used in escape attempts.

Pink paper was used to distinguish this denomination from others in the series at a glance — a practical measure when canteen clerks were processing high volumes of transactions quickly. The camp closed in 1949, and most PoW scrip was destroyed or discarded at repatriation, which accounts for its relative scarcity today.