ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS MICHIGAN MAN'S WWII SHORT SNORTER

The 1935 one-dollar bill, its edges frayed and its color faded, reads like a World War II history book.

Scrawled on the back of the bill is a list of some of the most notable spots in the history of the war. The entries start with the U.S. at Camp Perry, Ohio, and end with the former eastern European nation of Yugoslavia.

In between are some of World War II's most historic spots, including Omaha Beach, France, where thousands of Americans lost their lives in one of the war's defining periods.

But who carried the worn dollar continues to puzzle Ed Sechen, an 82-year-old Norton Shores resident who was handed the bill by a friend 20 years ago.

"It must be from a soldier from that time," said Sechen, a lifelong coin collector who was attracted by the history of the bill. "It looks like he went to a lot of different places."

It wasn't uncommon for soldiers to record a list of places they visited on a dollar bill, said John McGarry III, executive director of the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon. The bills event had a name: a "short snorter," McGarry said.

Some service members had other soldiers sign their dollar bills during their travels.

"First of all, you want something easy to carry and that you're not going to lose," McGarry said. "You can fold up a dollar bill and put it in your pocket."

He said the practice dates back at least to the Civil War when soldiers would write the names of locations they visited on canteens.

To read the complete article, see: Short snorter' dollar bill is a piece of World War II history -- and mystery (www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/02/
short_snorter_dollar_bill_is_a.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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