“Short snorter” signed by famous journalists, boxing champion, actor & others will be on display
The Ernie Pyle World War II Museum will receive formally a “short snorter” signed by Ernie Pyle and several other notable figures during the annual Ernie Pyle Fireman’s Festival in Dana, Indiana, on Saturday, Aug. 10. The presentation be 5:30 p.m., on the festival main stage. The artifact was signed by Pyle and others just three and a half weeks before he was killed on Ie Shima during the Okinawa invasion.
The tradition of short snorters originated with Alaskan bush pilots in the 1920s, but spread to other commercial pilots and the military, particularly during World War II. The pilots learned quickly than alcohol and flying didn’t mix well, so their portions or “snorts” of whiskey were less than others while imbibing at local watering holes. They became short snorters and the term became associated with the dollar bills fellow pilots would sign and exchange. When the pilots met again, if one didn’t still have the “short snorter” in his possession, it was his obligation to buy the other pilot’s drinks.
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Dr. Angie Bethel of Carmel is donating the artifact on behalf of her parents Doyle and Elvie “Bobbie” Bethel. It was Bobbie who received the signed dollar bill years ago in change from a purchase she made. Noticing the handwriting on the bill, she set it aside rather than spending it somewhere else. In 1974, Doyle wrote another signer of the short snorter, Pacific War correspondent Robert Sherrod a letter to try and determine where the bill was signed and who were the other signers.
Sherrod, a correspondent for Time and Life magazines in the Pacific, went on after the war to become an editor of the Saturday Evening Post and vice-president of Curtis Publishing Co. He affirmed that the bill had to have been signed at the March 25, 1945, farewell party held on Asor Island, a part of the Ulithi Atoll where the invasion armada preparing for Okinawa were anchored. The task force set sail for Okinawa the next day.
The party for war correspondents, military brass, and nurses from six hospital ships was hosted by the base commander, O.O. “Scrappy” Kessing. After the war, Kessing became the commissioner of the All American Football Conference – an early rival of the NFL, which folded in the early 1950s, but provided the NFL the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns, along with the name for the original Baltimore franchise – the Colts. Kessing’s signature is on the bill.
Sherrod recalled that everyone got drunk that night and that Ernie Pyle was “the lion of the party.” Pyle apparently initiated the short snorter – writing “To Margaret Clift From Ernie Pyle.” Clift was a nurse on the U.S.S. Hope, a hospital ship that had arrived at Ulithi on March 20. She was one of 70 nurses and two female Norwegian radio operators who attended the party. It was a rarity to have women at a party during the war. Sherrod wrote Doyle that the hospital ship doctors were “sore” because the nurses didn’t return onboard until 4 to 5 a.m.
At this point, we have no idea the path the dollar bill took when Clift’s ship left Ulithi or where it exactly came into the Bethel’s possession. Clift was from Lewiston, Idaho. A scrapbook of photos from the war belonging to her now resides with the Women Veterans Historical Project at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Two surprising autographs on the short snorter are heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey and actor/director Jackie Cooper, whose real name was John Cooper Jr.. Dempsey joined the Coast Guard during the war and was in Ulithi preparing to command an assault boat onto the beaches of Okinawa. Cooper, who was a child actor and part of the “Our Gang” cast later played newspaperman Perry White in the 1978 Superman movie that starred Christopher Reeve. Cooper served in the Navy during World War II, but we don’t know at this point why he was at Ulithi or whether he was part of the Okinawa invasion.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Bethel decided to donate this artifact created by Ernie less than a month before he died to our museum,” said Steve Key, president of the board of the Friends of Ernie Pyle Development Fund, Inc., which operate the Dana museum. “The short snorter is an example of how the war brought people from diverse backgrounds all across the United States together in unusual places all across the globe.”
