Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web5204.mail.yahoo.com ([216.115.106.85]) by walker.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tg4q6r.b6oi.37kbi73 for ; Wed, 16 May 2001 07:47:39 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010516114734.21504.qmail@web5204.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [205.188.197.157] by web5204.mail.yahoo.com; Wed, 16 May 2001 04:47:34 PDT Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 04:47:34 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: M:PCGram 340 To: MPCGram@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ============================================== MPC Gram ============================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ----------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 340 Wednesday, May 16, 2001 A possible explanation as to why Series 651 prefix/suffix letters started over at A-A? By Phil Goldstein One fine day, no too long ago, before Fred's hard drive decided to take a permanent siesta, I was sitting and proofreading the manuscript for Fred's new MPC book, and somehow or another, I began to wonder why Series 651 prefix/suffix letters started over at A-A instead of progressing to K-K. (Remember Series 641 is J-J) I looked as the date of issue, 28 April 1969. Nothing special about that that I can see... Then I looked at the order date. 1968. A lot of things happened in 1968. For starters, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated this year. If you use your imagination, the prefix/suffix letters K-K could very easily translate into Kill Kennedy. Bad choice of letters if you ask me for the government to affix to a currency. I seem to recall something written somewhere about how the Dallas FRB was numbered 11 to commemorate the month (November - 11) that President J. F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Of course this was nonsense, since the Dallas FRB was numbered 11 way back when FRB's were assigned numbers (Boston - 1, New York - 2, etc.) But it does prove the association of events with numbers / letters, which I'm sure some B.E.P. employee recalled/remembered that info, and thought it would be wise to change the prefix / suffix letters. Why start over and not advance to L-L, I have not thought of yet. If that hasn't lifted your eyebrows, then how is this: K-K is two-thirds of the initials of that infamous group, the Ku Klux Klan, and being such, that Rev. M. L. King, was also assassinated this year in time, that would not have made too many people happy. Now, I know this all could be very hard to swallow, and no, there is no proof pertaining to this, other than my wandering and overactive imagination. Yes, there a few coincidences, but nothing conclusive. but it does raise the question. [I think Phil might have something with his theory about serial numbering. I think that the Kennedy part is a real stretch, but the Ku Klux Klan part is a distinct possibility. Officials were faced with the prospect of then skipping the letter O soon so they may have just decided to start over. Of course, if that was the only reason, it would have been better to start over after H thereby avoiding the skip of letter I as well. Of course we will be excited to hear any other theories or comments on this.] Book Rlease WAR LETTERS: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars (Scribner) by Andrew Carroll. The book is being published today nationwide. Andy has been working on WAR LETTERS for almost three years, and he is donating ALL of his earnings to veterans organizations, including the Korean War Project. I wanted you to know about this book, because I think it is truly special and something we all need to support. (And the better it does, the more Andy will have to give away!) WAR LETTERS features approximate 200 previously-unpublished letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and even Somalia and Bosnia. The overwhelming majority of the letters are by unknown soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, war nurses, chaplains, medics, and even anxious wives and parents on the homefront. But there are also never-before-seen letters by William T. Sherman, Clara Barton, George A. Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Patton, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Julia Child (who worked with the OSS-the precursor to the CIA-during WWII), and Norm Schwarzkopf. There are also eyewitness accounts of Gettysburg, Lincoln's assassination, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Iwo Jima, the Battle for Chosin Reservoir, the Tet Offensive, and many, many more major clashes and historic events. Tom Brokaw gave Andy a terrific quote, saying: "Andrew Carroll has given America a priceless treasure. These letters are intimate, deeply personal portraits of the courage, sacrifice, and sense of duty that made this country." And the esteemed war historian Stephen Ambrose calls the book "breathtaking" and, "one of the greatest, most riveting books of war letters I have ever read." The book is $28, and, starting today, you can get it anywhere, including on-line. WAR LETTERS is a lasting tribute to everyone who has ever served this nation, and these letters, I can assure you, are like nothing you've ever read. I know there's been a lot of focus on war these days, but I think what makes WAR LETTERS so unique is that it covers so many different American wars, including (of course) Korea, which as we all know is so often forgotten. The book also presents war in the most vivid and dramatic way imaginable-through the words of those who were actually there to see and experience it firsthand. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone you think might be interested-whether they are a veteran or not. [The above review/release is taken from a newsletter from an organization known as “the Korean War Project (http://www.koreanwar.org). It was published in the organization’s version of the Gram that magically started showing up in my box. It is included here because it sounds interesting. I will probably ultimately read the book and review it here—editor] =============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- A long front page story in the Tuesday USAToday talked about a nationwide (worldwide?) renewed interest in World War II. Of course there are many reasons for this, but from this outpost, the observation seems correct. Certainly there is increased interest in our small sector and this can be nothing but good. The interest will likely continue to bring us collectors and potential collectors. It is our job to help the beginners. Once they are hooked, they are our prisoners and will never get away! =========================================== Mail Call ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Gram Just for your info. our August sale will also have some better MPC. At least you can see what notes look like better in color unfortunately none of us are mistake free, whether it be the note or the scan or the printer. I do appreciate mentioning our sale and web site. Thanks lyn Dear Lyn, Thanks for writing. Please send us future news releases of your sales. Editor =================================================== Departments --------------------------------------------------- WWII numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar 2001 --------------------------------------------------- Not only does the scholarship fund have an official identity but also has a bank account! Any further donations should be paid to the order of "Military Numismatists Scholarship" and sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 THE UPDATED LIST OF SCHOLARSHIP BENEFACTORS 3/22/01. These folks have generously provided money or material to finance scholarships to the ANA WWII Numismatics seminar. Your contributions will help promote collecting WWII material and be greatly appreciated. Many donations were received at CPMX and MPCFest. Mr. Anonymous Donor, Mike Cummings, Sue and Keith Bauman, Ed B., Doug Bell, Tom Denly, Continental Coin Invensor, Inc., Denly's, R. A. Medina, Harold “MPCKid” Kroll, Leo "Paymaster" May, Mrs. R.C. Matherne, Marv Mericle, Bill McNease, Mel and Jeremy Steinberg, Marcus Turner, Larry Ski, Guido, Fred, PK6, Joel Shafer, World Wide Ventures, Pam West, John and Nancy Wilson, Neil Shafer, W. E. Yanchick, Mark Watson, Al Glaser, Phil Goldstein, Rod Hardy, Wesley Hardy, Gary Hicks, Jack Lippincott, Ian Marshall, Kevin Maloy, David Seelye, Nick Schrier, Elmer Smith, Dan Swartz, Tom Warburton, Dick Freyser, Tim Kyzivat ==================================================== Post/Base Exchange (PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale 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. Send in a list of items for sale and we will list them here in the gram. In all cases confirm your order via email first. FOR SALE Send your notices of material for sale for inclusion in the Gram—FREE. WANTED 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 or sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. Collectors have requested Fest Certificate replacements and fancy serial numbers. Numbers 2, 4 and 8 have been specifically requtested. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - fred@papermoneyworld.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tueseday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski cloumnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski – ski@papermoneyworld.com critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@papermoneyworld.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.com; 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!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/