5 Cents Naval Air Station Bermuda

U.S. military installations throughout the Pacific and Atlantic issued their own scrip during World War II to prevent local currency from being drained out of occupied or allied territories. The Bermuda NAS scrip was part of this broader program — dollars earned on base stayed on base, and British colonial currency remained in local hands. The arrangement suited both the U.S. Navy and the Bermudian authorities, who had no interest in American military pay flooding the island's small economy.

The Bermuda station itself was established in 1941 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which gave the U.S. a 99-year lease on the site.