Postcard Friendship Friday #18 -Pvt. Burns, Part II

Bridge Over Indian Creek At 41st Street, Miami Beach Florida

.

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday, and welcome back to the 2nd of five postcards sent by Pvt. Burns, stationed with the Army Air Force in Miami Beach, to his wife in Rochester New York. As always, PFF is hosted by Marie at Voila! Vintage Postcards, so be sure and stop by to visit Marie

.

The colorful and scenic linen card shows the 41st street bridge that crosses over to Indian Creek, the wealthiest municipality per capita, in the United States. Per Wikipedia:

.

A unique characteristic of Indian Creek Island is the residents' apparent obsession with security. The village is unique among similar-sized communities in having its own State of Florida sworn police force including its own 24/7 armed boat patrol around the island. Not only does "the ICVPSD operate the only 24 hours (a) day, 7 days a week marine patrol unit and it is often the only waterborne police force available on Biscayne Bay" but also the sworn force of 14 officers compared with the 38 residents reported in the 2004 census figures might make Indian Creek Village the most protected and secure incorporated municipality in the United States.
.

Creek Village frequently makes real estate headlines with its record high sales. Crooner Julio Iglesias's home made news as being one of the 10 Most Expensive Homes in the South according to Forbes Magazine in 2006 at $28 million; a $15.5 million empty double lot sale in 2005; and other noteworthy listings.

.
The island is also home to the ultra-exclusive Indian Creek County Club. In addition to one of the oldest private club houses in South Florida, the club's golf course is widely considered to be greater Miami's finest golf course and occupies the entire interior of the island with a few waterfront holes.

.
Famous residents both past and present have included Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, his son Enrique Iglesias, pro golfer Raymond Floyd, coaches Rick Pitino and Don Shula, US Senator George Smathers, Sheik Mohammed al-Fassi of Saudi Arabia, television host Don Francisco, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, co-founder of Calvin Klein, Barry Schwartz, billionaire developer Donny Soffer, steel executive Leroy Schecter, wireless executive Rajendra Singh, radio magnate Raul Alarcon,real estate billionaire Peter Breton, coal and oil executive Christopher F. Viegas, Perry Ellis head George Feldenkreis, and former Philadelphia Eagles owner and billionaire art collector Norman Braman, Frederic Hesser CEO and Founder of Hesser Group Global, producer and song writer Scott Storch, and former cable company CEO Ken Bagwell.

.

.

The description on the back of the card reads:

There is but one Florida and it calls to all nature loving people. Not only is it a playground for the leisure class, and a winter home for the wealthy, but it is a year round place in which to live, to work, and to rest.

1942 was not a year of rest. The USA entered WWII and like thousands of soldiers, Pvt. Burns came to Florida to learn how to fight the war.

The postmark is December 16, 1942.

Pvt. Burns writes:

.

Dear Mrs. Burns
.

Received your letter of Sunday, also package and contents. It don't seem much like Christmas. It is very nice. Just what I wanted and pills bandage etc. will come in mighty handy.

I am looking around for something for you but am having trouble finding anything. Merchandise is limited around here. However have one thing I made for you. It will look louzy on you but I know how you always wear those hidious pins etc. so you will like this.

Letter follows by air mail tomorrow. Your last letter arrived in just a day and 1/2. Write me the news that was in that 8 page letter. It got lost!

.

Love,

Me again

Excerpts from Time Magazine, December 26, 1942:

It would be a Christmas unlike any the U.S. people had ever seen, and one they would long remember. There was hardly a person who had not sent a package, or at least a letter, to a man in uniform; hardly a thoughtful man or woman who would not wonder what it might be like to spend Christmas in a tank on the road to Bizerte or perched in a palm tree in New Guinea.
.

Christmas, 1942, was the time when trains were jammed and trees were scarce, when turkey was high and the eggnog bowl low. It was a time when, despite the opulence of gifts in many homes, the people sang with fervor, in a peculiar popular ditty, that they just wanted to keep what they had. It was a time when a young Navy wife in Seattle said: "Last Christmas I worried if my husband would come home from the office sober enough to trim the tree. This year I wonder if he'll come home from the Solomons—anytime."
.

Following the US entering the war , the mobilization of war efforts were quick and effective with car makers and other manufacturers changing to production of weapons of war .

1941 Ford

Ford halted its car and truck lines on February 10, 1942 to begin war production, but not before a short run of 1942 cars was built. War rationing required auto makers to black out their chrome trim, and a Special Fordor model was produced with no chrome at all for military use. 1942-style Ford cars continued to be produced as military staff cars from March 1942 through summer 1945. A large number of 1942 (and 1941) cars held in dealer stocks by government edict, to be doled out to essential users during the conflict, were Fords. Some states titled cars by the year of sale, so it is possible to find 1943, 1944, and 1945 models by virtue of their registrations and titles.
.

The war also created a new breed of movies with war themes , and one of the most popular songs of all time,

"White Christmas" from Bing Crosby first appeared in the movie "Holiday Inn" just in time for Pvt. and Mrs. Burns' first Christmas apart.

Be sure and stop by next Friday for the next installment and answers to the question: What became of that 8 page letter?