Friday, June 12, 2009

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.

23 comments:

Marie Reed said...

Good ole Rot really needed to take love letter writing 101! Leave it to you Musey to find cards with the kookiest backs! Wowsers... He should have written a whopping THANK YOU for the 8 paged letter! Private Burns makes me chuckle every Friday! Happy PFF!

Paul van Yperen said...

The private and his wife are starting to become a kind of family to me. I want to know what happened to them next. Thanks for sharing this series of postcards.

Sheila said...

What are we going to do when his story is finished! I love the bit about losing all that dough at poker. :)

Lanny said...

I love the dear Pvt. and Mrs. Burns. Nice back ground information about an important time in our history.

steviewren said...

It kills me that he addresses her as Mrs. Burns. It reminds me of how really old people used to do that.

Daryl said...

Its always an adventure in clever fact based fiction here!

MuseSwings said...

That "Dear Mrs. Burns" Kills me too. I decided not to comment on the poker game in the blog - I think the Mrs. took care of that problem. Wonder if they played penny ante - with zinc pennies.
I'm glad you all enjoy the Burns postcards as much as I do!

Mandala Michelle said...

I am really enjoying these correspondences. What a great story you are sharing with us.

Jane In The Jungle said...

LOVE these post card stories you are sharing....My fave part... Dear Mrs. Burns!!

ChaChaneen said...

Happy Friday my beautiful friend! We both learned a lot of garage sale tips didn't we? Well we are ready for the weekend now.

I lurve this postcard, I'd like to set up a little table right in the middle and have some coffee with ya!

Today is the last day of school and I'm as excited as the kids. ha ha Have a great weekend!

Margo said...

I'm starting to feel as if I know this guy from somewhere. I wonder what became of the private and Mrs. Burns?

Terry said...

Howdy
Oh how I am loving this private and his wife.
Wow am I addicted to your PFF soap :)
I hope you keep digging up information .
I really had a great time today ,although He should have been more thankful to get an 8 page letter .
Have a wonderful weekend.
Happy Trails

Debby said...

Oh, this is so wonderful, love your posts.
Debby

Aimee said...

Always an interesting read! I'm having computer problems and it took me several tries to get your blog to open. I kept thinking...I have to know what Pvt. Burns is writing about today!! thankfully, my computer finally cooperated! Now, if I can't just get a few other blogs to work!

Anna Lefler said...

I love this! So cool...

Hope all is well with you...sorry I've been AWOL, but I'm trying to return...

XO

Anna

Kristin - The Goat said...

I'm glad Mrs. Burns gave him hell for the poker playing, but the funniest part is that he told her in the first place.

This is such an interesting series, I look forward to it.

Postcardy said...

Such nice neat writing. I wonder how much dough he lost.

Vicky said...

interesting post! thanks for sharing.

Debby said...

Poor Mrs Burns...writes Rot the R an 8 page letter and he signs off with a comment about 'lots of people writing him'. Gads. He was a romantic, wasn't he. Did Mrs. Burns wait for him? Did he become more romantic? Stay tuned...

Robin said...

Gee what a fabulous post.....and such wonderful postcards. Thank you so much for sharing.

Have a beautiful weekend.

Shelley said...

I would love to read more of these postcards - had to laugh about him losing money at poker!

Marie Reed said...

I'm going to start calling Francois Mr. Reed!

Dave King said...

Fascinating. More please!