Postcard Friendship Friday #17

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! Today's postcard pictures a Florida Seminole Indian and her Papoose in the Everglades.

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This is the first of five postcards that were written by an Army Air Force Private to his wife during the winter of 1942 /1943. I will share the others with you over the next four weeks.

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This card is postmarked December 8, 1942 - a year and a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There is no stamp, as the mail for service men and women was free. The word "free" was written in the spot that normally holds a stamp. It was difficult to find as it was stamped over with "Buy War Savings Bonds And Stamps". It was sent from the Army Air Force Technical Training Center, Miami Beach Florida which was located at what is now Miami International Airport.

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The mailing address in Rochester, New York, still exists

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The postcard reads:

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Dear Mrs. Burns

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Have nothing new to say today. It is very hot. How is Junior coming along? Watch out that you don't get any cold.

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I don't know a soul in this camp which makes it kind of hard. However would like to become permanent here but doubt if that will be.

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Some one of these days I will have a picture taken and send it to you so that you can see my new uniform. Also would like a better one of you. This 10 cent one of you isn't very flattering because it does not show your teeth (Ha Ha)

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Will write a long letter when I buy some paper and envelopes. So far have managed to bum some. Are the letters coming fast enough? Hope I can start getting a few from you soon. NO SOB STUFF.

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Tell everybody not to look for any Xmas present from me and not to send any.

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Love

Me

Rot the R (?)

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Postcard of the Army Air Force Technical Training Command Center Parade Grounds

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WAC (Women's Army Corp) air controller - the shoulder insignia is the Army Air Forces patch.
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The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II. The direct precursor to the United States Air Force, its peak size was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft in 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By VE Day it had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide.
The Air Corps became the Army Air Forces in June 1941. Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of the army or navy (such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe), the USAAF remained a part of the United States Army.

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Clark Gable enlisting at the AAFTC

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From 1942 to 1945 Miami Beach played a significant role in WWII. Nearly 500,000 men, including matinee-idol Clark Gable and Robert Preston, took over 300 hotels and buildings for housing and training headquarters under the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. By the time the war ended, one-fourth of all Army Air Force officers and one-fifth of the Air Corps' enlisted men had been trained in "the most beautiful boot camp in America''—Miami Beach. Another group of hotels and buildings served as an Army Redistribution Station for infantrymen returning from battle. These men were reunited with their wives, and "ordered" to have fun before being released or reassigned.

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Exercising on Miami Beach
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This photo shows Army Air Force Technical Training Command soldiers in an outdoor classroom in front of the London Shop and Mishan Importers of Linens, Laces and Rugs (possibly on Lincoln Road).

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It is probable that Pvt. Burns enlisted in the service rather than being drafted. He was recently transferred to this location for technical training. Part II next Friday! I will forgo the usual "back story" out of respect to this AAF serviceman and all of our service men and women.

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For more Postcard Friendship Friday visit Marie at Voila! Vintage Postcards!