Military payment certificates, or MPC, was a form of currency used to pay United States (US) military personnel in certain foreign countries in the mid and late twentieth century. They were used in one area or another from a few months after the end of World War II until a few months after the end of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War – from 1946 until 1973.
Oh wow! You just unlocked a memory of mine of a M*A*S*H episode where they have to exchange their military scrip from one color to another because of counterfeiting or profiteering or something.
just watched that episode recently! there's a ton of small historical details in the show.
I just watched one that utilized an older anaesthetic called curare, and discusses how it was banned for a time, which was true, until safer versions were synthesized.
After making a slightly snide comment, I decided I had to redeem myself by actually finding the answer. It's surprisingly difficult, but the engraver was likely Charles A Brooks. I cannot determine the name or subject of the engraving itself though, though I'm merely using google searching. The answer is probably sitting in some record books in some archive somewhere.
His engravings were nearly photorealistic, so a reverse image search from a cropped pic of just the portrait may yield something--his original source potentially.
I remember seeing this on pawn stars. They said the purpose was to stop black market flows of US dollars into foreign countries. I think it was particularly prevalent in Korea and Vietnam.
What they didn't talk about is what you would do with your stack of certificates when your tour was up and it was time to go home.
Edit: They were convertible to local currency when on leave and US dollars when returning home.