A Very Brief Primer on Funding the Philippine Insurgency in WWII.

Pre-war five peso note from the Philippines. 

In January 1942, the Japanese introduced the Japanese Military Peso into circulation in the Philippines. Collectors refer to the Japanese notes as Philippine JIM (Japanese Invasion Money).

Japanese issued fifty centavo note from the Philippines. The Japanese did not issue coins in most of the areas it occupied during WWII.

Prior to the war, the US backed Commonwealth Peso was the circulating medium in the Philippines. The pre-war peso was valued at two pesos to a US dollar. When the Japanese introduced its military peso, it pegged the exchange value with the Japanese yen at 1:1. This vastly over-valued the yen versus the peso.The Japanese did not immediately invalidate the Commonwealth peso. The military peso was intended to circulate beside the Commonwealth peso. 

One peso Japanese note for the Philippines. These notes were lithographed making them easier to counterfeit than an engraved note.

The purpose of an occupation currency is to require the occupied country to pay for the cost of its own occupation. The occupying power is not required to provide cover for its occupation currency so it essentially provides free money to itself to use on the occupied country’s economy. The occupation currency is used to pay the occupying military force its wages and to pay for requisitioned items and property.

Japanese issued five peso note for the Philippines from WWII. All of the Japanese notes shown here are from the first series. The second series was intaglio printed and depicted the Rizal monument. 

Gresham’s Law is a theory of monetary policy that says that bad money will push good money out of circulation. The good money will be hoarded while the bad money will be spent as quickly as possible. In the Philippines, Gresham’s Law forced the Commonwealth peso out of circulation even before the Japanese forbade its use. Profligate spending by the Japanese and military loses caused significant inflation in the Philippines such that in early 1945 it took 120 military pesos to equal the value of one Commonwealth peso.

Japanese issued ten peso note from the Philippines during WWII. This was the highest denomination of the first series. Inflation had progressed so badly that by the end of the war the Japanese were issuing 1,000 peso notes.

Although the Japanese had conquered Manila and the other large cities, they did not have much control in the countryside and the jungle. Guerrilla units formed to resist the Japanese occupation. The guerrilla units were made up of native Filipinos and remnants of US forces who refused to surrender. Philippine President Manuel Quezon authorized many of the guerrilla organizations to issue notes in the name of the Philippine Commonwealth.

Twenty peso note issued for use by Philippine guerrillas in Cagayan. The guerrillas issued dozens of different types of notes. Unlike their Japanese counterparts, most of the guerrilla notes were redeemed by the government of the Philippines after the war.

In addition to the guerrilla units, the US inserted special operations teams into the Philippines by submarine. These units were originally furnished with pre-war Commonwealth peso notes for use in their operations in country. They complained, however, that the uncirculated notes they were given were not well-received because the new notes would be looked at with suspicion by Japanese authorities. The US Bureau of Standards developed a process to “circulate” the notes by tumbling them with dirt, coffee grounds and other material.

Series 1941 one peso note for the Philippines. The serial number on this not indicates it was one of those processed to simulate circulated currency by the US Bureau of Standards.

The notes processed by the Bureau of Standards can be identified by their serial numbers. The following notes, all Series 1941, were processed:

One pesoE6008001E-E6324000E
Five PesoE1208001E-E1328000E
Ten PesoE810001E-E870000E
Series of 1936 five peso note from the Philippines. It is within the serial number range of the notes requested by the US Army in 1944.

The Army then asked for Series 1936 notes. They were supplied with the following notes:

Five PesoD3244001D-D3544000D
Ten PesoD2024001D-D2174000D
Twenty PesoD1664001D-D1739000D
One hundred pesoD41001D-D56000D

The units operating in the Philippines also requested that they be supplied with Japanese Military Peso notes. In order to meet this request, US Army authorities obtained them the only way they could — they had them printed in Washington. Ten million pesos of the first series of Philippine JIM were printed of which P8,300,000.00 were put into circulation by US and Filipino sources. The US printed counterfeit Philippine JIM notes can be identified by small imperfections in them. Examples of each will be shown below. The genuine notes are on the left in each of these images and the counterfeit on the right.

The small, curved line just below the upper right counter on the face of the counterfeit 50 centavo note is broken while it is a solid line on the genuine note.
The fingers in the scrollwork below the upper left counter on face of the one peso note come together on the counterfeit notes. They remain separate on the genuine notes.
The curved lines below the upper right counter on the face of the counterfeit five peso note connect with the bottom line. They remain separate on the genuine note.
There is a small tick mark between the numbers 1 and 0 on the upper left counter on the back of the ten peso notes. It is absent on the genuine notes.

A Billion Here is not A Billion There

One billion mark note issued by the German railway office at Altona in November 1923. Note the reference to one billion being equal to 1,000 milliarden.

In the early 1920s, the German economy began to teeter under the weight of the obligations imposed on the country by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany’s reparation payments had to be paid in hard currency. Starting in 1921, the Reichsbank began printing more and more paper marks in order to buy up the foreign exchange necessary to meet its treaty obligations. Inflation began to rapidly force up prices in Germany into 1922. The mark declined to 160 to a US dollar.

Germany was unable to meet its reparations payments in late 1922. In response, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr valley — the industrial heat of Germany — to ensure Germany met its obligations. The German government ordered a general strike in response to the occupation. The striking German workers continued to paid but the only way to raise the cash to pay their wages was to print more marks.

Ten billion mark note issued by the German railroad office at Karlsruhe. The denomination is the highest issued during the German hyperinflation of 1923.

These factors, coupled with the weakened state of the German economy, brought hyperinflation in 1923. At its peak in November 1923, the dollar exchange was 4,210,500,000,000 marks.

Draft drawn on the Deutsche Bank from the foreign exchange office of the United States National Bank of Portland, Oregon from November 1923. While the value is written as one billion in words, the German bank would have read the numerical value not as one billion but as as one milliarden, a thousand times less than one billion.

The hyperinflation necessitated the printing of higher and higher denomination notes. The face amount of banknotes and other instruments quickly went through the millions and into the billions of marks. Reichsbank notes topped out at 10 billion marks.

Check written in Novemnber 1923 on the Dresdner Bank in Berlin for 15,000,000,000,000 marks. This would only be 15 billion marks to a German. The exchange rate meant the drawer paid about US$3.75 for the check.

Foreign exchange departments at banks outside Germany found their customers making novelty checks in order to become paper millionaires and billionaires. But the banks did not always get it right. The German numbering system differs from that used in the United States. While US numbers go from million to billion to trillion, the German system goes from million to milliarden to billion. The checks shown above for 1,000,000,000 and 15,000,000,000,000 marks show this confusion in the numbering systems.

Check drawn on a German bank written by a German bank Brazilian Bank for Germany on another German bank (Norddeutsche Bank in Hamburg) for 10 billion marks. The written numerals (10,000,000,000,000) and the numerical words (10 billion) match on this check.

Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels

Edward Adam, president of the First National Bank of Monroe, Wisconsin attempting to plug a meter with one of the bank’s wooden nickels. (UPI Photo).

In May 1964, Edward Adam, the president of the First National Bank of Monroe, Wisconsin was facing a problem. The bank, like banks in many parts of the country, was dealing with a coin shortage. Rising silver prices had led speculators to hoard US coins and the post-war vending machine boom strained the supply of circulating coinage. Adam and the bank decided to deal with the problem themselves by circulating wooden nickels.

Wooden nickels like this balsam flat from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin were popular advertising media.

Wooden nickels were a popular souvenir in the United States from the 1930-50s. The most popular type were thin, rectangular balsam strips printed on both sides usually to commemorate an event or significant anniversary like a municipal centennial. In the early 1960s, wooden nickels in the form of round tokens began to be used by businesses as a cheap advertising medium. It seemed like a reasonable solution to the bank president.

The obverse of the Monroe, Wisconsin wooden nickel from 1964.

The bank in Monroe placed an order for 20,000 wooden nickels with an advertising jobber in Minnesota. They began circulating on May 20, 1964. The bank had pledged to redeem all the wooden nickels in circulation. They were an immediate success and a boon to the local economy.

The reverse of the Monroe, Wisconsin wooden nickel of 1964. The redemption language incurred the wrath of the US Treasury.

They were so successful that, when the United States Secret Service arrived at the bank a week later, only 450 remained on hand. What seemed like a novel solution to Adam was a federal crime. The Treasury Department determined that the bank was issuing its own currency and had to put an immediate end to this threat to the integrity of the US money supply.

US Attorney Nathan Heffernan with the confiscated wooden nickels of the First National Bank of Monroe, Wisconsin. (Wisconsin State Journal).

The Secret Service, through the United States Attorney in Madison, demanded the bank cease circulating the tokens and recall all those that had been issued. The bank did what it could and on June 3, 1964 turned over what remaining stock it had to the US Attorney.

Newspaper accounts of the debacle were picked up by the wire services and collectors came calling. The First National Bank of Monroe and local merchants received inquiries from collectors around the country looking for examples of the contraband timber. Prices settled in at $5.00 per token. The bank, of course, could not comply with collector requests but the good citizens of Monroe were not above a little profiteering.

Food Stamps, Pt. 2 1961-67

Orange stamp from the 1930s food stamp program.

In Executive Order No. 1 dated January 21, 1961, President Kennedy directed the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the amount and variety of foods distributed to low-income families. In February 1961, a pilot program modeled after the 1930s era Surplus Commodities Program (Food Stamp) was formulated.

Blue stamp for surplus foods from the 1930s food stamp program.

The 1930s Program allowed participants to purchase orange food stamps at face value. In turn, they also received half that amount in blue food stamps. Orange stamps could be used to purchase any type of food. Blue stamps could only be used to purchase selected surplus foods.

Cover for a $3.00 booklet from the 1961 food stamp pilot program.

The 1961 pilot program had a similar goal of providing relief but was not connected to surplus commodities. Instead of small stamps, coupons in denominations of $.25 and $1.00 were used. Eligible participants could purchase an amount of coupons equal to their expected monthly food expenditure making them able to receive an additional bonus coupons. The amount of bonus coupons was based on income and the number of dependents. Unlike the 1930s food stamps, there was only one type of food coupon used in the pilot program.

Twenty-five cent food stamp coupon from the 1961 pilot program. The coupons are uniface.

The pilot program ran for one year in eight areas around the United States: Franklin County IL, Floyd County KY, Virginia-Hibbing-Nashwuk MN, Silver Bow County MT, San Miguel County NM, Fayette County PA, McDowell County WV and Detroit MI. Approximately 151,000 households were served in the initial pilot program.

The pilot program proved to be a success and it was gradually expanded. The pilot program was active in 43 areas in 22 states by mid-1964. In August 1964, $5,800,000.00 coupons were distributed representing $3,600,000.00 of purchased coupons and $2,200,000.00 of bonus coupons. The pilot program became permanent with the passage of the Food Stamp Act on August 31, 1964.

One dollar coupon from the 1961 pilot program. The coupons were printed by the USBEP and carry its imprint at bottom.

Throughout the 1960s, state participation in the Food Stamp Plan was voluntary. States had to apply for areas to be included in the program. It was expanded to a mandatory system nationwide on July 1, 1974.

The initial coupons used for the 1961 pilot program were called Food Stamp Coupons, combining the name of the 1930s program with the larger, coupon-style instrument. As noted above, they came in denominations of $.25 and $1.00 in books having values of $2.00, $3.00 and $10.00. The $2,00 booklet contained 4 x $.25 and 1 x $1.00 coupons, the $3.00 had 4 x $.25 and 2 x $1.00 coupons, and the $10.00 had 10 x $1.00 coupons.

The coupons were not numbered but the coupon book covers were. The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced all of this issue consisting of 939,000 $2.00 booklets, 1,048,000 $2.00 booklets and 3,350,000 $10.00 booklets.

Fifty cent coupon first introduced in 1962. All food coupons to this point were intaglio printed on unwatermarked paper.

In 1962, the name of the instrument was shortened to Food Coupon and the design and denomination of the coupons were altered. Coupons were available in denominations of $.50 and $2.00. A $20.00 booklet was added. The breakdown of coupons in each value booklet was: $2.00 4 x $.50, $3.00 6 x $.50, $10.00 5 x $2.00 and $20.00 10 x $2.00.

The $2.00 food coupon introduced in 1962.

Like the earlier type, the coupons were not numbered but the booklet covers were. The following table shows the number of booklets printed for the coupons introduced in 1962.

$2.00A0 000 001BA1 448 000D*
$3.00B0 000 001BB5 124 000E*
$10.00C0 000 001BC4 326 000C*
$20.00D0 000 001BD8 190 000E*
* Suffix letter changed at 9 996 000
Cover of a $2.00 specimen booklet of 1962 $.50 food coupons.

A Numismatic Requiem for Butch’s

Butch’s Bar in Sturgeon Bay was one of those typical corner taverns that dot the Wisconsin landscape. It was a popular watering hole known for its live music on weekends and Wednesday night open mic.

(Image from the Door County Pulse).

The building housing Butch’s was built in 1904 as a tourist rooming house. In the 1930s, it was turned into the local aerie of the Eagles Club. In the 1960s it became a tavern. The upstairs meeting room was converted to 20 transient rooms.

It has been owned and operated as Butch’s Bar by Clarence Cumber since 1972. Clarence still worked behind the bar and was not shy about sharing the history of the building and the tavern.

(Image from Lets Go Door County on Facebook).

In the early morning hours of February 22, 2022, a fire started in one of the upstairs rooms. The old, wooden interior was no match for the flames and the entire building was quickly engulfed by the fire. The ceiling and second story collapsed leaving only the dolomite and brick shell standing. The stone walls contained the flames and kept it from spreading to other buildings.

Tragically, two of the residents perished in the fire.

The Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva Fiji

The Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, Fiji as depicted on the back of a Fijian ten dollar note.

The Grand Pacific Hotel opened on May 23, 1914 in the Fijian capital of Suva on the island of Viti Levu. The hotel was built by the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand as luxury accommodations for cruise ship passengers. The hotels original design mimicked the layout and amenities of a ship. The hotel quickly became the social center of the island.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand one pound note overprinted for use as emergency currency in Fiji.
This piece was saved by an American serviceman on a short snorter.

Fiji was an important logistics base during the Second World War. The huge influx of New Zealand and American military personnel put a tremendous strain on the Fijian monetary system. A shortage of currency and small change soon developed. New Zealand banknotes were overprinted for use in Fiji and an emergency issue of small change notes was printed.

These measures helped the situation but proved insufficient. Local businesses had small change tokens printed for use in their establishments. The Fijian government took a dim view of this private scrip and banned its use. The Grand Pacific Hotel was one of the places that issued paper tokens. Its tokens were in denominations of one penny, three pence and sixpence.

Receipt for one pound to an Ensign Mills from the Grand Pacific Hotel in September 1942.

With the post-war decline in passenger ship travel, the Grand Pacific Hotel fell on hard times. The Union Steamship Company pulled out in the 1950s and the hotel went through the hands of a succession of owners. The Nauru Government took over in the 1980s but it closed in 1992. Subsequent attempts at revitalizing the hotel were delayed by political instability in Fiji. It was finally renovated into a five-star hotel and reopened in time for its centennial in 2014.

The Brief Life of the MV Weser

Ten and twenty pfennig notes for use on board MV Weser.

In 1932, the German finance ministry imposed a number of restrictions to assist on controlling the economy. Among these was making the reichsmark inconvertible and prohibiting the export of the mark. Currency control was so strict that marks could not be used on German cruise ships and they had to use a form of scrip known as ship’s money orders.

The 10 and 20 pfennig notes shown above were used on the German ship Weser. Weser had a brief and interesting history.

The ship was built in 1929 in the Kiel shipyards for the Norwegian firm, Linea Sud Americana, as the Sud Americano. It was intended for service between New York and South America. It was primarily a cargo vessel but had twenty-one staterooms available for passengers.

The ship was returned to the builder a little more than a year after delivery because it could not achieve the contracted cruising speed. It was renamed Schleswig and eventually sold to the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line. NDL renamed it the Yakima Star and it went into service as a fruit runner bringing Washington apples and pears to Europe.

Yakima Star was refitted in 1934 with new diesel engines, an additional 34 feet and renamed Weser after the German river. It continued service between Germany and the western United States until 1938.

Weser
Weser in the port at Manzanillo, Mexico in 1940. (Maritime Museum of British Columbia).

In 1939, the ship was again refitted, this time as a supply ship for the Kriegsmarine. It is believed that Weser served the auxiliary cruiser Orion which was raiding commercial vessels in the Pacific and Indian Oceans after WWII started in Europe in September 1939.

In 1940, Weser was at Manzanillo, Mexico. Despite Mexican neutrality, the ship was not interned although it remained in the harbor to avoid capture by Allied vessels blockading Mexican ports.

HMCS Prince Robert

The Royal Canadian Navy sent the Prince Robert to Manzanillo for blockade duty. Before departing, the Admiralty planted a story in the Vancouver press that the Prince Robert was out for sea trials and crew training. German spies in the Pacific Northwest passed this misinformation onto the Kriegsmarine. Thinking the way out of Manzanillo was clear, the Weser prepared to flee to open water.

On the evening of September 25, 1940, Prince Robert observed a dark object heading out from the Mexican port. Prince Robert positioned herself between the departing vessel and the harbor using the mountainous coast as a backdrop to disguise her silhouette. The Canadians closed quickly as soon as they verified they were outside Mexican waters.

Weser
Sailors from HMCS Prince Robert escorting the crew of the Weser.
(Maritime Museum of British Columbia).

Casting her searchlight onto the pilot house of the Weser, Prince Robert ordered the German vessel to halt. Thinking they were being stopped by the Mexican Coast Guard for running without lights and not expecting any Allied ships in the area, Weser complied. Prince Robert‘s boarding party was aboard before the German crew realized their mistake and the Weser was captured without a fight.

A prize crew took control of the ship. The Canadians had no experience with the diesel engines on the Weser and some of the German crew remained on board to operate them. They would each receive CAD$244.80 from the Prize Court for their services.

Niemieckie okręty podwodne (U-Booty typu VII) na północnych wodach USA (2-2547).jpg
U-558 in the North Atlantic.

The ship was taken to Esquimalt, British Columbia and refitted for use by the Canadian Merchant Marine. It was renamed the Vancouver Island. In October, 1941, Vancouver Island left Montreal for Belfast carrying aluminum, copper, steel, asbestos and zinc. She was sunk in the North Atlantic by U-558 with all hands lost on October 15, 1941.

The Numismatic Legacy of the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company

Drawing of the canal works at Portage, Wisconsin between the Wisconsin River on the left and the Fox River on the right. (Image from portagecanal.com).

The Fox and Wisconsin Rivers had been used to travel between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River for hundreds of years. Native Americans, French fur traders and the other early settlers used the rivers as a highway. The Fox empties into the Great Lakes at Green Bay and the Wisconsin meets the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. The two rivers do not meet, however, with their closest point being a mile and a half piece of land at Portage, Wisconsin.

The waterways were not suited to large shipping due to the obstruction at the portage and the rapids in the lower Fox River between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. The river drops 170 feet between these points.

Stock certificate for 15 shares for the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company from 1856 signed by Morgan L. Martin as president.

In 1829, Morgan L. Martin of Green Bay, a New Yorker lured west by his cousin James Doty proposed the construction of a canal at Portage. His Portage Canal Company did little more than dig a small ditch between the two rivers. The project picked up steam in 1846 when Martin, then the delegate to Congress from the Wisconsin Territory, lobbied that body for financial support for the canal.

The Congressional authorization allocated the proceeds of the sale of certain lands in Wisconsin to the project. Upon achieving statehood in 1848, Wisconsin accepted the terms of the appropriation and the state Board of Public Works took it over.

Bearer bond for $1,000.00 for the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. Bonding was necessary as land sales were insufficient to meet expenses. This bond is signed by Norwegian missionary and Green Bay pioneer, Otto Tank, as president.

The canal at Portage was completed in 1851 but commercial traffic was still impeded by shoaling on the Wisconsin, shallow depths in the upper Fox and the rapids of the lower Fox. The increasing expense and slack land sales led the state to privatize the project. In 1853, the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company was chartered by the state which assumed the rights and obligations associated with the project.

Note for $2.00 issued by the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. The Company did not have banking privileges and it is not known whether the notes were used. The date and signature on the note are spurious. The date is prior to the company’s incorporation.

In 1854 Congress made an additional land grant to assist in financing the project. Money continued to be a problem and work on the improvements was slow. In 1856, enough work had been completed to allow the steamer Aquila to complete the all-water journey from the Mississippi to Green Bay. Despite this success, the development of railroads and the American Civil War combined to make the Fox and Wisconsin project unprofitable.

View of the dam on the Fox River at the Rapides de Peres (the rapids of the priests). French Jesuit priests established a mission among the native population at the site in the 17th Century giving rise to the name for the City of De Pere. (Army Corps of Engineers photograph).

The company filed for bankruptcy in 1866 and its assets were bought by the eastern investors of the company in the form of the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company. By 1872, this company sold the lock system to the Federal Government and the Army Corps of Engineers became responsible for navigation on the rivers. The Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company kept the dams in an effort to make money from hydroelectric power.

Lock
Recreational boating in the lock on the Fox River in De Pere, Wisconsin. (Image from the City of De Pere).

The Corps of Engineers only maintained the lock systems on the Fox River below Lake Winnebago in aid of commerce along the river from Menasha north to Green Bay. In the 1980s, commercial shipping south of Green Bay had ceased and the Corps of Engineers recommended the lock system be dismantled. Local and state officials were able to secure a transfer of the system to the State of Wisconsin which was completed in 2004. Most of the lock system remains in operation for recreational boating.

Confucius Say: “F U !”

Close up of the image of Confucius on the 1 yuan note of the Federal Reserve Bank of China printed in 1938.

In December 1937, the Japanese army occupying northern China established the Provisional Government of China at Peking. In February 1938, the Provisional Government established its financial institution — the Federal Reserve Bank of China.

Check drawn on the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China at Tientsin payable in notes of the Federal Reserve Bank of China.

Although a Japanese invention, the bank’s officers were Chinese. It had the responsibility of stabilizing the currency, control of foreign trade and financing military operations. The bank was given sole note issuing authority in the area under the control of the Provisional Government at Peking.

The second series of notes for the Federal Reserve Bank of China have a modified design but the obscene gesture remained.

The notes issued by the bank were printed in China by Chinese printers. The 1 yuan note carries an image of Confucius, the Chinese philosopher. The design has Confucius’ hands making an obscene gesture. The generally held belief is that the design was intentionally done as a subtle insult to the Japanese. The image was so subtle that its mirror image was used again on the second series of notes printed for the bank.

The third series of the Federal Reserve Bank of China notes printed in 1941 have a modified portrait of Confucius.

There are differing accounts as to the fate of the designers and engravers of the notes. One version has them being captured and executed. Another has them escaping through the British concession at Shanghai and Hong Kong.

This was not the only example of hidden (or not so hidden in this case) messages inserted into the notes of Japanese puppet banks in China. Messages were also inserted into the notes issued by the Central Reserve Bank of China at Nanking. Those will be saved for another day.

One Expensive Souvenir of WWII

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Short snorters are souvenirs made from banknotes. They usually bear the signatures of travelling companions. They originated with air travelers but became popular during WWII with service members overseas. Since the notes used were not going to be spent, short snorters were usually made on low value currency.

1 (4).jpeg

This $50.00 US Federal Reserve Bank Note represents the highest denomination short snorter I have encountered. FRBN were originally printed and issued in 1933 during the Bank Holiday to increase the money supply on the banking system. They stopped being issued when the emergency passed. The unissued stock of notes remained in the vaults of the US Treasury.

The notes were called into service again during WWII. Full employment, increased wages and wartime demands on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing combined to put a strain on the money supply. FRBN were once again injected into commerce to alleviate the shortage.

Image
Errol Flynn arriving in Alaska in 1943. (US Navy Photograph).

The signatures on the note indicate why it was saved. The signatures are two different USO shows who visited Dutch Harbor and the Aleutians in 1943.  The most significant signature is Errol Flynn (upside down on the lower right of the face).  The others from his tour are Harry Mendoza, Martha O’Driscoll, Ruth Carrell and Jimmie Dodd.  The other group is Gerald Griffen, Eleanor Padova, Gerry Knox and Conchita and Lari.

45.jpg
Excerpt from the War Diary of the Naval Operating Base at Dutch Harbor, Alaska for December 1943 identifying the USO troupes who visited that month.

One of the unfortunate characteristics of short snorters is that there is often no indication of who saved the note. This is the case here where there is no way to tell from the note itself who had the wherewithal to use a $50.00 bill as a souvenir.