THE PERTH REGIMENT ITALIAN LIRE SHORT SNORTER

This story has its start on eBay.

It was there, a few years ago, former Wellander Bobby Morrison’s eye was snagged by a war-time 100-lire Italian bank note where the words ‘Port Colborne’ were inscribed.

With them, a name: Arthur Diwell.

It was one of 22 names scrawled on the note. Fifteen on its front, seven on the back, where Diwell’s was written.

Along with the 22 names were three sentences: Say Hello to the devils for me; Plenty of vino down there; Passport to Hell.

The signed notes are called “short snorters” says Morrison. It’s a term given to bank notes which circulated during the Second World War, signed by soldiers who travelled together.

“I thought the note would be nice to buy and send to the family as a memory,” Vancouver-resident Morrison said in an e-mail.

He has a soft spot in his heart for Canadian military history, which has become his hobby.

“Finding little bits of history here and there has been somewhat of a fetish, as anyone in this hobby can attest to,” he said.

His research tracked down one of Arthur Diwell’s descendants, son Bob. Through their phone chatting, Morrison learned infantryman Arthur Diwell had been killed in action at the Battle of the Fosso Munio, Dec. 20, 1944. That led to more research with Morrison ascertaining that 18 of the 22 names on the note were those of Perth Regiment members. The regiment fought gallantly in many battles in Italy, paying a high price in some.

“I paid $5 for that note, but there’s probably $5 million worth of stories in it,” he said.

Morrison, who grew up in Summerlea Subdivsion on Quaker Rd., a Veteran’s Land Act post-Second World War development, also learned Diwell had two daughters: Barbara and Kay, and wife Emma.

Recently, he made three large photocopies of what he has come to call The Perth Regiment Italian Lire Note as keepsakes for the three survivors.

Kay Diwell Boss, the youngest of the three children, did not know her father. Born in July, 1944, she was five months old when he was killed.

To read the complete article, see: A bank note worth millions in memories (www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013/11/08/a-bank-note-worth-millions-in-memories)

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