Bill McGee’s Short Snorter, front (above) and back (below), 1946
Aboard the USS Fall River (CA-131), Bikini Lagoon, Jul 1946 – Tradition was if you signed a shipmate’s Short Snorter and met up with them later on in civilian life, if they couldn’t produce the Short Snorter you had signed, they owed you a drink.
Aboard the Fall River, our Short Snorters looked like a dollar bill. They were designed specially for Operation Crossroads and included the words “Bikini”, “JTF-ONE”, “Atomic”, and “Crossroads”.
The Short Snorter tradition began with Alaskan bush pilots, who would have no more than a “short snort” before taking off. 
Next up: William Day Rehearsal, 19 Jul 1946
Previous: Bikini (the swimsuit), 5 Jul 1946
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More Excerpts from the Book
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Excerpted from Operation Crossroads, Lest We Forget! An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946 by William L. McGee with Sandra V. McGee.
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