ABOARD THE USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Atoll, 17 July 1946 — At Operation CROSSROADS, we had “Short Snorters”. They were designed to look like a one dollar banknote and signed by your shipmates. Years later, if you met up with a shipmate who had signed your Short Snorter, but you couldn’t produce it, you owed that shipmate a drink. The “Short Snorter” tradition was started by bush pilots in 1920s Alaska, ensuring they would only have one drink — a short snort — before flying.
(Caption to images: A Short Snorter (sides 1 and 2) designed for Operation CROSSROADS 1946 and signed by Fall River shipmates. Author’s Collection.)
(Excerpted in part from Operation Crossroads – Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account by William L. McGee. Available on Amazon.)
