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short snorters - signed money


Bob Hudson
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Short snorters are bills/bank notes signed by your unit members, drinking buddies at the NCO club, etc. Some guys taped theirs together and whomever laid the shortest one on the bar had to pay.

 

This one was three US bills with some bits of of non-US currency taped to them. These belonged to Edward Dickson, a Marine Corps officer who retired as a Lt Col and who served as an intel officer with Marine aviation squadrons in WWII. One of these bills is marked "Espiritu Santo," where he served with VMD-154 when they were flying photo recon over over Guadalcanal.

 

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Short snorters began as strictly an AAF tradition during the war but expanded to the other branches of the Army and the other services.

 

I'm actually surprised to see Forum Suport's snorter having strictly US currency and yet overseas references. I had always been told that the number of different country's currencies displayed was a "plus" when short snorters were used to determine who had to buy the drinks. The idea was you had a bill from each country you had served in.

 

Here are the photos of the snorter I lucked into. It is from a 6th AF Vet who served in the Caribbean. This may take two posts to fit the photos.

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Here are the second two photos.

 

I should add that members of our AAF living history group have taken it upon ourselves to continue this tradition. Searching antique stores, etc., some of us have obtained period paper currency from foreign lands to use to create our own "short snorters". You should see the look on a Vet's face (especially an AAF Vet) when you pull out a bill from China, Belgium or wherever and ask him to sign it! "My God, I haven't seen one of those in 60 years!" Does the heart good.

 

Oh yeah. My bills also have "1992" in ink on them - the year I started into this madness. That will prevent someone down the line trying to sell my personal souvenir of the Vets I have met as a WWII original.

 

Tom thumbsup.gif

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I was under the impression that this traditionally started with early commercial airline flights, where the passengers became acquainted and signed bills and if you met up with the person again, you had to produce the bill or you bought the drinks. I don't have any reference to show for this but am pretty sure it started pre-war.

These are great souvenirs and can often be purchased pretty cheap. I have one that is over eleven feet long! It is from a WW II Navy vet.

BKW

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I'm actually surprised to see Forum Suport's snorter having strictly US currency and yet overseas references. I had always been told that the number of different country's currencies displayed was a "plus" when short snorters were used to determine who had to buy the drinks. The idea was you had a bill from each country you had served in.

 

If you look at the photos you can see pieces of non-US currency attached to the US bills. One of them is from New Caledonia - I'm not sure about the other. Also one of the bills is the WWII Hawaii-stamped silver certificate circulated only in Hawaii.

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Here are a few of my favorite bills.

 

The 1st one is a Romanian note signed by American POW's held in Romania . Most were captured in raids on Ploesti . Somone changed the date from 1944 to 45 on the back recently . The Romanian government released the POW's in Sept 1944 .

 

 

 

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Here is a note signed by POWs in Stalag 17b. The owner of this bill , was shot down and captured on the Schweinfurt raid.

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And lastly a Japanese bill signed by a group of American POW's at the Zentsuji POW camp in Japan. The owner of this bill, Charles D. Matzen was captured in the Philippines.

 

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If you look at the photos you can see pieces of non-US currency attached to the US bills. One of them is from New Caledonia - I'm not sure about the other. Also one of the bills is the WWII Hawaii-stamped silver certificate circulated only in Hawaii.

 

You are right. I should have looked closer at the photos. Sorry.

 

Tom crying.gif

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And lastly a Japanese bill signed by a group of American POW's at the Zentsuji POW camp in Japan. The owner of this bill, Charles D. Matzen was captured in the Philippines.

 

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KASTAUFFER,

 

Looking at those POW-signed bills makes me want to hide my Caribbean snorter in the corner. You have museum quality stuff there!

 

Tom thumbsup.gif

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KASTAUFFER,

 

Looking at those POW-signed bills makes me want to hide my Caribbean snorter in the corner. You have museum quality stuff there!

 

Tom thumbsup.gif

 

Thanks for the thumbs up Tom !

 

Dont hide the snorters thumbsup.gif All of them are facinating in their own unique way. I am hoping to see some more posted. I love seeing them.

 

Kurt

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been wanting to pick up a WW II Short Snorter for some time now, and I finally found part of one at an antique shop in Vicksburg, MS. It has tape on either end where it was probably taped to other bills, and it has several names written on the front. The bill is a 10 Franc note from Morocco dated 1944, and the neat thing about it, one of the men who signed the bill dated it, and his signature was August 14, 1945 - the day the Japanese Emperor announced the surrender of Japan. Some of the names are hard to make out, but the first looks like S/o Mealor, 14 August 45, then John J. Vogel, Major - Inf., and lastly Robin T. Hightower.

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

Here is another POW Short Snorter to add from POW Camp #13 in Romania. I looked up the names on this bill and all of them are from AAF crewmen who were shot down over Ploesti ( Except the RCAF name ) . Some of the men had even been on the same crews when captured!

 

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Thanks for reviving this thread.

 

In the collection of press photos I got this week there was one short snorter photo:

 

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Apparently this continued in Vietnam as well.

 

I was in a small surplus store in Texarkana, TX about 15 years ago. There was not much in the store for a collector, but on the way out I spotted a piece of RVN currency with about a dozen signatures. Looking closer at it had a Special Forces A team number on it as well!

 

I pointed to it and asked the little old lady behind the counter if that was for sale. She very sternly informed me it was not and looked at me like I was the devil invoked for even asking about it. I wanted to ask more about its origin, but the circumstances favored a hasty retreat. My impression was that it had been a donated item and was sacrosanct.

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Here's a 1935 dated silver certificate signed by members of the 45th division. Like everyone elses, there are tons of names. This one belonged to Mickey Monahan of that division. Written on the borders on back: "45 Div - Mick Monahan 157th Regiment - August 5, 45 - French Gagnon??? - Remembrance of Pig Alle - Paris, France ". Kim

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I have posted this note before, but thought I would post again here. Of the twenty notes I have this is my gem, since I collect 9th Infantry Regiment. I call it the Purple Heart Note: English Ten Shillings note signed by forty-nine members of Company A 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division This note was signed on May 3, 1944, at Barry Wales, one month before Company A would land on Omaha Beach (6-7-44). Of the forty-nine men who signed the note, Sixty-seven percent would be casualties before the end of 1944. Eight would be killed in action, twenty-six would be wound in action and four would be prisoners of war . Charles McDonald mentions two of the men killed (Floyd, Riemer) in his book “A Time For Trumpets”. The best seller about the Battle of the Bulge, during the battle Company A along with the rest of the 1st Battalion and Company K of the 3rd Battalion would defend the Lausdell Crossroads outside of Krinkelt-Rocherath, Belgium . At the end of the fighting on December 18, 1944 only five men would remain of the Company who were capable of further combat.

 

Front of note /Back of note

Lt. Stephen L. Ratcliff LWA 8-24-44 Sgt Barney F. Leonard LWA 7-5-44

Pfc. Jimmie A. Ford LWA 6-30-44, 11-12-44, POW 12-18-44 S/Sgt. J.R. Long LWA 8-1-44

1st Sgt. C.E. Cotter Sgt. E.R. Finley LWA 7-28-44 POW 12-18-44

Pvt. Hubert Akin KIA 8-12-44 Pvt. Arthur M. Hoover SWA 8-28-44

S/Sgt. Juel D. Quesinberry SWA 9-3-44 Sgt. Pete H. Grogan SWA 8-28-44

Pvt. Anthony Marotta Pfc. W.H. Brewer

Pvt. Charles D. Webb LWA 7-28-44 POW 12-18-44 S/Sgt. Billie Floyd KIA 12-18-44

Pvt. Walter B Powell LWA 8-30-44 S/Sgt. Fred B. Foster SWA 8-22-44

? Pfc. David Flores LWA 8-3-44 ? S/Sgt. H.F. Herrin LWA 6-8-44, 12-17-44

T/ Sgt. Johnny Yanak Pvt. John W. Trifts

S/Sgt. Lonnie Stafford LWA 8-13-44 Pvt. Marshall Tart

Pfc. Lawrence Pike LWA 8-12-44 Pvt. John F. Chumbley

Pfc. Floyd L. Holland LWA 7-26-44 Pfc. Frank Quezada KIA 7-26-44

Sgt. Harvey A. Gilbert Sgt. Ben M. West LWA 8-22-44 (owner of note?)

S/Sgt. Frank Fife LWA 7-31-44 POW 12-18-44 Pfc. Robert E. Sanden LWA 9-3-44 SWA 11-25-44

? Pvt. Shirley N. Saul LWA 7-28-44

T/5. George F. Alford LWA 7-28-44 Sgt. Frank L. Palmer KIA 8-28-44

S/Sgt. Roy L. Hamilton KIA 8-1-44 Pvt. Eugene Roberts LWA 7-27-44 KIA 8-30-44

T/Sgt. Charlie Riemer KIA 12-18-44 Pfc. Hollis C. Parks LWA 8-3-44

Sgt. James V. Galyean LWA 7-28-44 Pfc. Virgil J. Christensen LWA 6-16-44, 11-25-44

Pvt. J. D. Mc Lain Pfc. Johnny Gonzales

Capt. Joseph J. La Rocco LWA 6-16-44 Pfc. Joseph M. Ramos LWA 7-1-44

Pvt. John R. ? Pfc. O.B. Robinson KIA 6-22-44

Pvt. Henry N. Riggins LWA 8-12-44

Pvt. Jim Fowler

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Here is another one, this is from the 674th Bombardment Squadron/ 417th Bombardment Group, which flew A-20 Havcos in the Southwest Pacific. They saw some heavy combat in New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon and the Southern philipines.

 

 

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This Five Franc invasion note was carried by Sgt. George Marciniak, Company I, 9th Infantry Regiment. It was signed by the actor Edward G. Robinson in July while visiting wounded GI's at the Normandy Front. Photo shows Robinson in a jeep talking to some GI's while on his visit. Sgt Marciniak would be wounded for a second time in August of 1944 while riding in a truck on his way to Brest, France.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 years later...

This was a very interesting and informative read...I have a couple of short snorters on Hawaii issue singles and always wondered about the origins of this tradition...thanks for posting this thread!

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  • 7 months later...

Bringing this back up with a Short Snorter from a group I bought at the SOS. It is from Stalag Luft 1.

 

Two of the signatures are from the ranking POWs in the camp Col Byerly and Col. Spicer. This is from before Hub Zemke was in the camp.

 

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