Most of us consider ourselves lucky when we find money on the ground. But one usher at a Mariner’s game knew this particular dollar bill was worth far more than any other dollar.
Jim Grieger, an usher at Safeco Field, stumbled on this piece of history after a Mariner’s game in April.
“We go down through all of the seating area and we look for lost and found,” said Grieger. “I noticed there was something on the floor that was kind of unusual.”
It was Salute to Armed Forces Night and Grieger knew right away, this wasn’t an ordinary dollar bill.
“It looked almost like it had been ironed because I would imagine it would have been in somebody’s wallet for 60 years,” said Grieger.
Grieger took the bill straight to his boss, Tim Cox.
“During the World War II this was very popular where soldiers would sign the dollar bills,” Cox explained. “They would write on here the locations of where they were served and one of them would hang on to it.”
This particular tradition is called a “short snorter.” The tradition dates back to the 1920’s when Alaskan Bush flyers inked the first bill. The dollar is lined with the names of service members and cities from around the world. Any of us might have overlooked its value, so it may be destiny that it fell into Tim Cox’s hands.
“I recognized it because I own one of these that’s a Hawaii dollar bill, with military that had served in Hawaii during WWII,” said Cox.
For months, this bill has been in lost and found. Cox went to the ticketing office and got the names of everyone who purchased seats in the Section 105, but had no luck find a matching name. He also listed the bill on Craigslist, but never received a response.
The names on the bill may provide clues: Small, Browning, Osborn and Abernathy and the signature of the PFC Cowan is also featured prominently.
“This person, this might be the only one if he was in the Air Force, it could be the only one he had. He served with the same crew for the whole time, so that makes it double important to get it back to him,” said Grieger.
We’ve left off some of the names and cities, so the Mariners can be sure it is identified by the right hero.
It’s a piece of history found by chance and hopefully returned with grace.
