US Military Payment Certificate

Military Payment Certificate (MPC) issued to US and Allied service personnel during the Vietnam War. MPCs were fully convertible to US dollars but could only be redeemed by service personnel in designated MPC 'zones'. The MPC system was supposed to, in theory, prevent US currency from flooding the local economy and being used on the black market.


Image courtesy Terry Burch

How to cite this page: 'US Military Payment Certificate', URL:, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 28-Apr-2011


From time to time and without any warning the authorities would recall all MPCs and replace them with a new issue. This caused a certain amount of panic amongst those military and civilians who illegally held large quantities of MPC (or "Monopoly" money as the Kiwis often called it). In the scramble to change the old MPCs many people lost thousands of dollars and/or were investigated by the Military Police.