WWII Short Snorters needed. (cross posted from the currency board)

UtahCoin

Several decades ago I started buying these whenever one popped up on eBay or at shows for a reasonable price. I would then attempt to track down any living signers on the note. About 10 years ago I put the project on the back shelf as far as things to do. Mostly because the ranks of WWII vets was growing thinner and thinner.

Since I've pretty much stepped away from collecting (I'm 72), I've decided to start this project again, with a new twist. I would like to gather as many high resolution images of these notes as I can, and work with images rather than the actual notes.

So what I'm asking is, if you have any of these "Short Snorters", and have the ability to get a HD image, I will try to track down any descendants and give them a frameable image of the note.

Any help would be appreciated. Please cross post to any sites/forums/boards that would be appropriate.

Thanks,
Wes Chormicle
wchormicle@live.com

CaptHenway

Sometimes short snorters have signatures of celebrities on them. Many years ago I saw a note with a fairly prominent "Bill Fields" on it. I knew that W.C. Fields, who did U.S.O. shows in and around Hollywood during the war, usually signed his name that way, so I bought it and checked an autograph book and sure enough it was "The Great Man" himself!

pocketpiececommems

Among fun and interesting way to collect what you like

KellenCoin

oldabeintx

The Hawaiian dollar adds something special. Did all services participate in this practice?

Maywood

I have my Dad's note from 1945 Germany.

Klif50

I saw a tremendous number of short snorters on the ceilings of bars in the Philippines (most of the bars outside Clark Air Base in 1972-1973 were destroyed by the volcano eruption.) Likewise a huge number in the bars outside Misawa Air Base, Japan 1986-1992. I only studied a few of them and made no notes, but there was an earthquake and tsunami not too long ago and a major fire in the "alley" where most of the bars were located. Again years of history were destroyed. Other than the collections of some individuals I would say the total number of remaining World War II era short snorters is pretty limited other than maybe the ones in pubs in England and they are probably unreadable due to the years of cigarette smoke they were exposed to.

Good luck with your quest. If you have the opportunity to obtain any and can preserve them out of harsh environment I would encourage you to do so.

oldabeintx

@Maywood said:
I have my Dad's note from 1945 Germany.

You’re very fortunate. I have a few things from my Dad’s service in the Pacific, which I cherish.

JBK

Not to muddy the waters, but is there a specific definition of what constitutes a Short Snorter?

I've seen elaborate ones that have "Short Snorter" written on them in addition to the signatures. I've also seen ones that have details of the flight on which they were signed. Others are much simpler with just many or even just a few signatures.

Here's a piece of WWII Japanese Invasion Money signed by "Dutch" Van Kirk, the navigator on the Enola Gay (Hiroshima mission). I wouldn't represent it as a Short Snorter since I obtained it decades after WWII, but if found it the wild might someone approach it differently?

sellitstore

While I'm not aware of an "official" definition, there are fairly specific requirements defined by the collector of these.

I don't think that your signed note qualifies as a short snorter as it didn't serve the purpose of a short snorter. It also lacks the owners name, a very common feature. Short snorters were often signed by celebrities and others of significance but also commonly signed by fellow officers and soldiers and sailors.

Your note is an autograph of a aviator of prominence who's fame is associated with the first use of an atomic weapon against other humans in a successful effort to end a war which threatened to kill many more people on both sides. It's quite a complicated and profound souvenir. It's story goes far beyond that of a typical short snorter.

vonlettow

While I'm not aware of an "official" definition, there are fairly specific requirements defined by the collector of these.

That all depends who you ask. The late researcher and collector Neil Shafer had a collection that numbered in the thousands. His definition included any note that was inscribed in some fashion that was intended as a souvenir. That included notes that only bore locations or events without a signature.

To the OP (and anyone else interested in this sort of thing):

Perhaps Tom Sparks at the Short Snorter Project shortsnorter.org would be open to hosting this sort of endeavor on his website. I have hundreds of short snorters myself. Many of these I have been unable to positively identify the signers despite numerous hours of searching. I can read the names, I just cannot ascertain with a reasonable degree of certainty which "Thomas MacNally" is the signer.

WillieBoyd2

My mother has had this US one dollar bill since 1945 when she worked in a US Navy office in San Francisco.
She did not know who the people who signed it were.
It actually has the phrase "Short Snorter" on it.

It was signed by members of a US Navy aviation unit on Funafuti island in the South Pacific.
The PBM-3 Mariner was a World War II US Navy airplane, a patrol bomber flying boat.

Funafuti was a "dismal island" according to James Michener in his 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific.

United States One Dollar Silver Certificate Series 1935-A.

Around the edges of the reverse side it reads:
6456 PBM-3 Funafuti - Pearl Harbor
"Short Snorter" Southwest Pacific
Arthur Baldoni 9000' ALT.
Mar. 4, 1944

Signatures:
S. G. Austen, C. N. Gaska, J. M. Feeley, O. B. Lamfe, Thos B. Cox, A. J. Kledinski, Ellial Stein, L. L. Hall, G Schaeffer, James Lebo, R. E. McLeod, W. Crabtree, Wugen H. W., J. Alben, J W. Crabtree

vonlettow

6456 PBM-3 Funafuti - Pearl Harbor

"Short Snorter" Southwest Pacific
Arthur Baldoni 9000' ALT.
Mar. 4, 1944

PBM-3 6456 was assigned to Navy Transport Squadron 2 in March 1944. It is not uncommon to see signatures of US Navy personnel on short snorters using only initials and last names.

There was an Armaldo Baldoni who served in the Navy in WWII. Ancestry.com records confirm that Arthur Baldoni and Armaldo Baldoni are the same person. (His VA grave marker application identifies him as Arthur. The Navy Muster Rolls use Armaldo. Both records have the same service number.)

In March 1944, Armaldo Baldoni transferred from duty on board the USS Dixie to schooling in San Francisco. He would emerge as part of the crew on the newly christened USS Bonhomme Richard.

This flight was a regular ferrying flight from the SW Pacific to Hawaii. The men on board the flight would likely have had no connection with each other except for being passengers on this flight.