The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Chatham County, Georgia, will welcome a traveling World War II exhibit called The Short Snorter Project later this month. The display is scheduled for February 24 and 25, and will include a presentation by project founder Tom Sparks at 11 a.m. on February 25 as part of the museum’s Mighty Talks series. Admission to the program is free, though advance registration is required. Click HERE to register.
The exhibit centers on “short snorters,” lengths of paper currency that service members taped together and signed during the war as keepsakes of shared missions and encounters. Many of the examples on display carry the names of senior Allied military leaders and political figures, offering a direct link to the people and moments that shaped the conflict.
One of the most notable pieces in the collection is the short snorter assembled by Major General Clayton Lawrence Bissell of the U.S. Army Air Force. Stretching to roughly 64 feet, it is made up of about 140 wartime banknotes and includes hundreds of signatures from Allied commanders, diplomats, and government officials. Another highlight comes from Sgt. Mickey McKeogh, who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s personal orderly throughout the war. His short snorter bears the signatures of many of the senior figures Eisenhower met during his time as Supreme Allied Commander.
Sparks, who founded the nonprofit Short Snorter Project to preserve and interpret these artifacts, will speak about their history and meaning during the February 25 program. The talk is part of the museum’s recently renamed Mighty Talks series, which now features a broader mix of historians, researchers, and subject experts. An optional lunch will be available after the program, costing $10 for members paying in cash or $12 by credit, and $15 for non-members paying in cash or $17 by credit. For more information and to support the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, click on this link: www.mightyeighth.org.
