Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web12704.mail.yahoo.com ([216.136.173.241]) by strange.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id troved.esk.37kbi0u for ; Thu, 4 Oct 2001 11:18:36 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20011004151836.74198.qmail@web12704.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [146.101.155.199] by web12704.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 04 Oct 2001 08:18:36 PDT Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 08:18:36 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 452/3 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 452 Thurski, October 4, 2001 Camp Blanding POW Camp by Larry "Ski" Smulczenski Florida is quite a large state, and one of the few from this great nation that lies within two time zones. During World War II military bases existed from the panhandle down through the Florida Keys. Over 9000 POW's were held captive at various times and locations in the state, but only one location is known to have issued chits for use by these prisoners. Then to top that off, only one denomination of these chits is known to have been issued. That is the 5 cent coupon on Camp Blanding. Camp Blanding is located in the northeast part of the state, just to west of Jacksonville and near the little town of Starke, Florida. It was originally established as a National Guard Post in 1939, but was federalized in 1940 and became a training site for multitude of units from around the country, a basic training complex for the Infantry and a Prisoner of War Camp. It got its name from Lt. General Albert H Blanding, who in 1894 graduated from East Florida Seminary, which is now well known as the University of Florida. Blanding entered military service after graduation and in 1909 was promoted to colonel, commanding Florida's 2nd Infantry. He directed that unit during their service along the Mexican Border in 1916 and 1917. General Blanding later commanded the 53rd Brigade, 27th Division during World War I and finally headed the 31st Division until his retirement in 1940. The 31st consisted of National Guardsmen for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and were well known as the "Dixie Darlings." This unit saw action in the Pacific Theatre during World War II and did not return to the Camp until late 1945. The first prisoners arrived at Blanding in the summer of 1942, however these consisted not of soldiers, but a number of German civilians who were living in Latin America. These folks were similar to the Japanese-Americans that were interned from the western states after Pearl Harbor. These original prisoners were soon moved on to more permanent facilities in Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. On September 24, 1942, fourteen prisoners from a German U-boat arrived and from there the number grew. More than 1000 prisoners found themselves incarcerated in the compound at Camp Blanding and the post administered for thousands more at subcamps supporting 200 to 300 prisoners each across the state. Camp Blanding still exists today as a National Guard Facility. Fred Schwan and I visited the base, a couple of years ago. We were able to find the location of the POW camp, which now is nothing more than an empty field, but the road that runs by the camp is still listed on the Post map as POW Camp Road. It was interesting to stand there and imagine what that field looked like fifty some years ago. Camp Blanding is only known to have issued that single value chit that I mentioned above. Donn's book on WWII POW Scrip of the U.S. says that $1 books which contained 20 rose 5c chits each were manufactured by Weldon, Williams and Lick Printers of Fort Smith, Arkansas. I personally have seen eight chits from this Camp, and they all bear the same serial number--025015. That means that they all came from the same booklet. I have never seen this booklet, but some collector must own it and has been selling the chits one at a time. If you know where it is, or know of any other serial numbers or values, please let me know. Just a short follow up on the Thurski column of last week. I talked to one of the cops that is working the investigation of the counterfeits that I wrote about last week. A total of 12 notes were passed in this little town last week within a 45 minute period. So there had to be more than one passer and possibly as many as 3, although their descriptions are similar. Quite possibly, they were passing through town and made a quick $1000 as no others have shown up in the last week. ============================================== Editorial ---------------------------------------------- First report from London and unfortunately it will be a short one because there is so much yet to do today. The trip was mostly uneventful. I travelled with Lawrence Falater from Michigan. Yesterday (Wed) we viewed auction lots. I will have much more to report on that later, but for now the most interesting thing was seeing Tom Warburton at the auction. Of course it is always good to see Tom, but this time it was particularly good because I challenged him with the MPC "coin" and was both pleased and disappointed the he did not have his one his person. He had lots of excuses like the system does not work the same in the UK and things like that, but actually he was good spirited about it and promptly took Larry and me to a local pup to pay off his debt! It was quite wonderful to spend the time chatting with Tom. I have just finished reviewing the mail that has arrived in the last few days. Wow, you guys are doing a great job! There is plenty of good stuff for the Gram in addition to what I can generate from here! Keep it up! Bravo, well done. My cell phone number here is (country code 44) 07 887 832 817. Please call me if you have a great collection or rare single to sell me. If you cannot meet that standard, call anyway. I will be pleased to hear from you. I may not talk too long at these cell rates, but I will be happy to hear from you! ============================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Editor, We are currently trying to address the number of catalogs to print for the sale that includes the Leo May collection and selections from Ruth Hill's collection. Please advise all of those who wish to receive one to let us know by Nov. 1.This catalog will be in full color and probably out of print soon. They can email to Lyn F knight@aol.com or write po box 7364 Overland Park, Ks 66207. thanks lyn Dear Lyn, I will take one!!! Editor ================================================ Departments ------------------------------------------------- Calendar of events for Gramsters maintained by Howard Daniel, Nancy and John Wilson and Gram staff, last updated September 7, 2001 show reports are requested on all events. Even if it was not a great show, there must be something to report. What and whom did you see? Market activity? Share your observations and thoughts with Gramsters everywhere. ---------------------------------------------------- Phillips Auction October 4, 2001 October 5-6. 2001 Remy Bourne Literature Auction featuring selections from the Katen library. Contact Remy at 1/800789-7005 for information October 4 - 7, 2001, long Beach Coin and Collectible Expo Long Beach California Convention Center, 400 booths, Educational Programs, Auctions by Heritage and Ponterio Spink Auction October 5, 2001 World Paper Money Fair, run by London Chapter of IBNS, October 6/7, 2001 Special "MPC" events March 2002 8-10 - MPCFest III - reservations in order received: Guido Crapanzano, Harold Kroll, Larry Smulczenski, Gary "Got any fours" Hicks, Tom Warburton, David Seelye, Jack Lippincot, Phil Goldstein, Warner Talso, Nich Schrier, Tom Koch, Mark Watson, Bill Yanchick, Doug Bell, Sam Feeback, Bruce Potter, Fred Schwan {running total 17}] W.W.II numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar, July 2002 Session I (Sunday, June 30 through Thursday, July 4, 2002) Session II (Sunday, July 7 through Thursday, July 11, 2002) --------------------------------------------------- Donations are now being accepted for scholarships to the 2002 "Military Money" course at the 2002 ANA Summer Seminar. Inquiries and donations should be sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 Donors to 2002 Scholarship Fund Steve Feller Harold Kroll R. A. Medina Guido Crapanzano David Seelye Leo May Warner Talso Marv Mericle Mark Watson Gail Baker ==================================================== 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 Czechoslovakia U.N.R.R.A. 500 Kronen Campbell unlisted. 31-08-1946. Very Scarce $400.00 postpaid insured for domestic delivery. coinman@rochester.rr.com Real nice MPC 481/1 $1 CU with poor centereing (on the face), but an interesting serial number D06419912D that contains a series number (641) and is very near the highest number for the first printing, $250, confirm at fredschwan@yahoo.com. 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. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - MPCGram@Yahoo.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com distribution manager - Brad Peacock bp22@swbell.net Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski –skifla@prodigy.net critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@AOL.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.net; 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!? NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1