Military Monday ~ Short Snorter

Another reason to have a blog: yesterday, I received an email from a history buff letting me know that he had a "short snorter" with my father's signature on it.

My first question was: What is a short snorter? From the Short Snorter Project website:

"A short snorter is a banknote which was signed by various persons traveling together or meeting up at different events and records who was met. The tradition was started by bush pilots in Alaska in the 1920's and subsequently spread through the growth of military and commercial aviation. If you signed a short snorter and that person could not produce it upon request, they owed you a dollar or a drink (a “short snort,” aviation and alcohol do not mix!)."

He included a photo.

On the left is my dad's signature in his distinctive handwriting:

Lt. Charles M. Pyle, Jr.

Chestnut Hill

Mass.

The man who shared this with me had purchased over 100 of them in an auction and all he knew of the original owner was that he was an elderly WWII veteran from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. The majority of the bank notes are from 1944-1945 and dad's signature was one of the first he was able to track because he searched his name and up came my blog!

Thank you Matt O. for sharing this with me!