Postcard Friendship Friday -Pvt. Burns, Part III

Welcome to another Postcard Friendship Friday hosted by Marie at Voila! Vintage Postcards.

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Today's postcard is the third in a series of 5 that were written during WWII by Pvt. Burns, stationed in Miami, Florida, to his wife in Rochester New York.

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The picture on the colorful linen card is of the Grecian Dock on Indian Creek, Miami Beach (Dade County) Florida.

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Indian Creek is a partly natural and partly man-made waterway in the city of Miami Beach, Florida. It starts as a man-made canal where Biscayne Bay meets Lincoln Road, and runs along Dade Boulevard, forming the boundary between South Beach and the rest of the city.

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The postmark is December 2oth, 1942 and reads:
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Dear Mrs. Burns -
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I received your 8 page letter to Fort Niagara so I guess I am caught up on mail from you except the last couple days.
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Have to answer letter to Baby also C. H. Hall in Camillus (He sent me a dollar bill) So will write you a long one tomorrow (Sunday)..


Am sorry you had to give me hell for losing that dough at poker but I feel just as bad about it.
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Lots of people are writing to me & it takes time to answer them.
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So until tomorrow -
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Love
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Me
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Rot the R


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The missing 8 page letter is resolved here and his comments about the letter give us additional information.; Pvt. Burns was inducted into the Army at (New) Fort Niagara, New York. After basic training he was transferred to the Army Air Force Technical Training Center in Miami. The letter had to be rerouted to him and arrived several weeks after he did.
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The site of his basic training, Fort Niagara, the oldest continuously occupied fort in North America. Occupation of the site began with the French, in 1678, the British 80 years later, and then the United States, 13 years after the American War of Independence.
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The newer, post civil war, Fort Niagara was built adjacent to the old fort. It contained a thousand-yard rifle range, access to rail lines, and access to large industrial areas (Niagara Falls and Buffalo).

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Fort Niagara was used to train troops for the Spanish-American War and World War I, and during World War II as an induction center and later a POW camp for 1,200 German soldiers captured in North Africa.

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After WWII, the fort served as emergency housing for returning veterans. During the Korean War, the fort was used as for the headquarters for anti-aircraft artillery and later Nike missiles. The US Army officially deactivated Fort Niagara in 1963. Military presence on the site continues with the United States Coast Guard still operating at "The Bottoms" making Fort Niagara one of the longest continuously run military bases in the United States, 1726-present day.

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The first Women's Army Corps Depot in Miami, Florida

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Dade County collected scrap metal for the war effort. Aluminum, iron, bronze and tin for ships, tanks, bombs and planes.

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All available copper went to war too - the U.S. Mint produced zinc pennies.