Korean War Scrapbook 1952-1953

Return to scrapbook

When we got to Korea we exchanged any US currency for script. Script was what looked like bad play money from a Monopoly game and included paper for coins as well as bills. It only worked while we were in the Far East, and we exchanged it for real money when we were on our way home.

I figured that since I was going to be in Korea, it would make sense to get some local currency. It was cheap and I think the 100 Won note above cost no more $0.10. Later I found out that the local Koreans were happy to accept script which they traded in some mysterious way. I found out why when I left; the note I'd bought above when I arrived in Korea had devalued to where it would literally take a wheelbarrow full of the 100 Won notes to buy back my dime. I think they even changed the name (Whon comes to mind) as part of the devaluation. That's the bad news -- I'd lost a dime during my 8 month stay in Korea..

The good news was that I did my turn at being paymaster one month. I got the money for the US soldiers, counted it, and all was OK. I also was paymaster for the contingent of Korean soldiers that were attached to our company. I got a huge stack of paper money from the Korean Paymaster which I tried counting, but must have missed something along the way. I was short 65,000 Won when I got back to the company.

I had signed for the money so was on the hook. I talked to the Korean sergeant and asked how much I was on the hook for in U.S. Dollars. He did some quick work on his abacus and said I was out 56 cents. I gave him a dollar in script and everyone was happy.

That had to be an incredibly rough time for the Korean civilian population. Their country had been devastated along with their economy. An amazingly tough people.

Return to scrapbook