From: mpcgram-owner@papermoneyworld.net on behalf of MPCgram [mpcgram@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 5:33 PM To: mpcgram@papermoneyworld.net Subject: MPCGram 1462 MEMORIAL DAY ------------------------ / MPC Gram News Letter / ----------------------- =========================================== MPC GRAM =========================================== Vol 7, no 1462 Thurday May 25, 2006 MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE TO A FELLOW COLLECTOR by Jim Downey I served with the United States Army from 1995 to 1999. My first duty station was in the Western Corridor of Korea with a cavalry squadron. The rest of my service I was assigned to the 202d Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Gordon, Georgia. I was an intelligence analyst with Company C. Charlie Company’s mission was the interrogation of prisoners of war. This is where I first met Sgt. Ken Hobson. Ken was an Arabic interrogator. Most of the Arabic interrogators in the company had gone through training together and they were a pretty tight-knit group. As an analyst, I was an outsider to them. Shortly after I arrived at the unit in 1996, the company was reorganized so that analysts were assigned to each of the interrogation platoons. Prior to this, the analysts were part of the headquarters platoon. I was detailed to First Platoon where Ken was a squad leader. Ken was an amiable guy. He was intelligent and had a great sense of humor. He was married to a woman who had also been in the service. They had a young daughter. He was a tremendous artist who worked primarily in watercolors. I attended the Blue Ridge show in Dalton Georgia in 1997. There I acquired one of the notes issued by General Charles Gordon for the siege of Khartoum in 1885. The notes are printed in Arabic. I showed it to Ken to get a translation. This led to a general discussion of paper money collecting. My collection was back in Wisconsin but I had a handful of material that I was able to show him. He was fascinated by the artistry of the notes. It did not take long before he was hooked. I sent for my group of duplicate notes which was little more than “junk box” material. Ken went through it like a kid in a candy store. In addition to the colorful notes, he had an affinity for German inflation notes from the 1920s. When the new Pick catalog came out, I gave him my previous edition. Many of you know that I learned the paper money hobby from Neil Shafer. I have identified myself as a “disciple” of Neil’s. Ken was my first convert and I was excited to be able to share the hobby with him. Aside from being a collector, Ken also helped create a set of training notes that were used during one of the battalion exercises. I had made an off-hand suggestion that the role players for the exercise should have currency along with the other items they were given as part of their characters. Ken and another interrogator made a set of notes on the computer. Ken was all about experiencing new things. He had a bit of an adventuresome streak in him. He applied for and was accepted into the Defense Attache Service. The Defense Attaches are the military representatives at the American embassies around the world. It is a significant position in the U.S. military. After completing his training, Ken had a choice of three assignments. Two of them were in areas where there was an active conflict -- one was Bosnia, I do not recall the other. He chose to avoid the war zones. On August 7, 1998, Ken went to work at the embassy as usual. It is doubtful that he paid any attention to the vehicle that pulled up beside his office on the busy Nairobi street outside. At approximately 10:45a.m., a bomb hidden in that vehicle was detonated tearing through the embassy building. Back in Georgia, the battalion was preparing for its Organization Day. For those of you who were not in the service, Organization Day is the military equivalent of the company picnic. It is a day of games, food and fun. As the festivities began word of the bombing and apprehension about Ken’s safety spread throughout the battalion. Details out of Nairobi were sketchy. In one of the first televised scenes from Kenya, Ken’s wife Deb could be seen running towards the embassy building amid the chaos after the blast. That night, Peter Jennings would be the first person to tell me that my friend and comrade Sergeant Ken Hobson of Lamar, Missouri perished in the explosion. I have always wanted to do a numismatic tribute for Ken. At one time, I considered exhibiting the notes from his collection at the St. Louis show since he was from Missouri. I never got up the nerve to ask his wife about them, though. Now I have finally accomplished that mission. *********************************************************** Championship Question Corner Question: What denominations were issued for Philippine VICTORY notes? Queston 122, difficutly 2. Yesterday's Question: What series of MPC is known to have had full packs of 100 notes find their way into collector's hands? Question 121, difficulty 2. Comments from the field: Question 121, Bill Myers series 611 5 & 10 cents, $1 replacements. The whereabouts of the latter is listed as unknown. Bill Myers [The 5 and 10 cent packs were distributed to collectors--Ed] Mike Payton wrote: Complete packs of all series 681 notes were disbuesed, I believe, by Ed Hoffman. Many of these last two matched serial numbered sets were sold in an IBNS auction. That's where I obtained my first set of 681 notes, for around $55!!! Sometimes being an old fart has its advantages... [I had to go back to look at the queston after receiving Mike's Reponse. What a hoot. First there was a typo (ok, not such a strange thing in the Gram) with three ls in collector. Mike was right. I had intended to ask about packs of REPLACEMENTS that have been distributed to collectors. That is the question that Bill answered! The question that Mike answered cannot be fully answered. Many packs of Series 472 5c and 661 $5 certificates have been distributed to collectors. Probably packs of 5 cent certificates made it back to the collector market for most, but not all, series. I know that a pack of 461 $10 certificates was broken up in the 1970s. Paul Garland swore that he imported a pack of Series 661 $10 notes. Merv Reynolds searched (but did not keep/send to the states) countless bundles of 692 notes, and yes, Ed Hoffman had bundles of at least the small values. I also once purchased a set of bundles of Series 681 5 cents through $20! I advertised sets of these notes (one note each denomination 5 cents - $20) at $55 or two sets for $100 (or maybe even $95). At the summer seminar two years ago, a student told me that he had purhased a pair of the sets--and no, he did not want to sell either or both of them.--Ed] ========================================== Editorial ========================================== Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion was an obscure little Army reserve organization in October 1941 when it was deployed to the Philippines. The 42 men who left eventually fell to the Japanese. The survivors of the fighting endured the Bataan death March, then captivity in Japan and many of the few survivors were eventually sent to labor camps in Japan. I am not sure how many of the 42 men survived to return to their home town. I do know that only one has survived to be honored by his little town today, Memorial Day 2006. That person is Joe Hrupcho. Mr. Hrupcho was one of my boy scout leaders. I grew up four houses down from him on Laurel Avenue. Yes, Company C was the reserve unit from Port Clinton. The first time that I heard of Bataan was when a new elementary school was built only one short block from our house on Laruel Avenue. I asked my mother about the very strange name for a school. She gave me a short explanation which included the first mention that I ever heard of Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion. Thank you Joe Hrupcho, thank you Company C, thank you all who “gave your today for my tomorrow.” ========================================== Mail Call =========================================== Dear Gram, Enjoyed the article by Jim on "Women on MPC." Just recently I was talking to a Vietnam veteran and he said he had one of the MPC notes with "Marilyn Monroe" on it. Didn't know what he was talking about until we got out the book and he picked out the Series 611 $10. Take Care, Ron Dear Gram, You probably have this, but I thought I would send it anyway. I don't know it's accuracy.   Happy collecting!   Don   http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/pow/pow.html ========================================== Calendar =========================================== 2006 The London Paper Money Fair has moved to: Victory Services Club, 63 Seymour Street, off Edgware Road, Marble Arch London and the dates are: July 2 and Nov 26. see: www.britishnotes.co.uk or www.londonpapermoneyfair.co.uk June 1-3 Long Beach, mini fest to be announced 16-18 June Memphis 1-14 July ANA summer seminar 16-20 August ANA convention, Denver September 14th-16th, Long Beach, mini fest to be annuonced The World Paper Money Fair, organised by the London chapter of the IBNS will be September 30/October 1 at the new venue: Hotel Russell, Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London.  see: www.ibnslondon.org.uk Oct/Nov Pcda St Louis ========================================== for dealer Hot Contact list, ANA MPC museum holdings and other static information please click this link: http://www.papermoneyworld.net/Gramattichments.htm ========================================== 2006 scholarship fund Donations of cash and numismatic material will be gladly accepted. Generally the numismatic material is auctioned at MPCFest, but might be sold via ebay or other places. Your scholarship donations help the hobby by sending qualified individuals to the ANA summer seminar military money class. Except for unavoidable charges like ebay fees, 100% of your donation goes to scholarships. Donations are now being accepted for the 2006 scholarship fund. Applications are also being accepted for the 2006 scholarships. Donors to 2006 scholarship fund: Sue McCarty (list pending) Contact me at: "Marcus Turner" mail to: maturner@indy.rr.com Checks should be made out to the "Military Numismatists Scholarship." or Marcus Turner Marcus Turner PO Box 191 Danville, Indiana 46122 USA Contributors to the 2005 scholarship were: Ed Hoffman, Warner Talso, RA Medina, John & Nancy Wilson, Keith & Sue Bauman, Dan Freeland, Tom Koch, Doug Bell, Cuneyd Tolek, David Seelye, Brian Giese, Larry Smulczenski, Joe Boling, Dick & Loretta Freyser, Mark Watson, John Cheney, Roger Urce, Harold Kroll, Al Glaser. (also Memphis Belle note purchasers and summer seminar participants. irie Harris, Robert Connell, William Benton, Ed Beaman, Frank Clark, Howard A. Daniel III, Dick and Loretta Freyser, Dan and Kathy Freeland, Jack Hunter, Harld Kroll, Tim Kyzivat, Leo May, Robbie Robinson, Joel Shafer, Neil Shafer, Larry Smulczenski, Steve Swoish, Roger Urce, Ron Waddell, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Adolf Witzke, Wendell Wolka. IMPORTANT SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION Additional information can be found at the link below. We encourage everyone to print copies of this information and distribute it to those who might be interested. Further you are encouraged to e-mail the pdf document to anyone you see fit. Thank you http://www.papermoneyworld.net/news/Military Numismatists Scholarship Fund 2003.pdf Scholarships from the ANA: See the following location for an application for financial aid to the summer seminar: http://www.money.org/sumsemfin.html ========================================= POST / BASE EXCHANGE(PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale, purchase or trade will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram. This service is for everyone, most humble dealer or most advanced collector. The point is to make the gram more interesting. In all cases confirm your order via email first. WANTED SECTION: Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items, are then encouraged to list them for sale in the above section as a reply. Wanted listings will run for a period of 1 month. ============================================= MPC Gram Staff: Publisher, editor: Fred Schwan fred@papermoneyworld.net; Subscription Manager:Doug Bell- doug@papermoneyworld.net Tuesday Columnist : JoeBoling- JoeBoling@aol.com Friday Columnist: Warner Talso: wtalso@aol.com Fest Auctioneer: Larry "Ski"Smulczenski - skitex@cox.net, Critic:Harold Kroll - HARBONS@aol.com Scholarship Coordinator: Marcus Turner- marucs@papermoneyworld.net; Webmaster and Technical Advisors:Doug Bell "Wiz" - doug@papermoneyworld.net Russ Walsh - russ.walsh@gte.net Fact Checker: Warner Talso -Calendar Coordinator: John and Nancy Wilson -The Boss: Judy Schwan MPC Gram is published by BNR Press and papermoneyworld.com as a free service to the community of military money collectors. Your suggestions, criticisms, complaints, editorial contributions, letters, and even praise are very welcome. The entire contents including linked illustrations are copyright protected by the publishers. In the case of contributors, the copyright is protected on behalf of the creators. Please send all correspondence regarding the gram to MPCgram@yahoo.com. Thank you very much for your participation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com mpc gram mail list To subscribe to a list, send a mail message to "imailsrv@papermoneyworld.net" at this address with the following in the body of the message: subscribe mpcgram your_full_name To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to "imailsrv@papermoneyworld.net" at this address with the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe mpcgram if you have any problems please report then to doug@papermoneyworld.net