GREETINGS FROM MASTIC BEACH MAY 30, 1944
In my five years of collecting and gathering stuff Mastic area related, I have come into quite a few generic post cards of Mastic & Mastic Beach, this one has appeared on this site before, perhaps if only to illustrate that Knapp's Original "Storm King" which is reminiscent of the large cruiser in the background could actually float in the area known as narrow bay between Smith's Point and Forge River. That said this card has remained my favorite and will probably get posted again if I ever get around to that page devoted to generic post cards from the Mastics....some are as perposterous as showing our Purple Mountain's Majestry !!!!! But the post card publishers didn't really care about accuracy and history, if they had a shot that would sell, sell it far and wide.
But besides being my favorite Mastic Beach generic card of a very plausible scene, this card is anything but generic....It involved two real people and was mailed on May 30, 1944. There was a lot going on in both Mastic Beach and the world that day. My father who had just turned 32 years old that day and was in the Navy "Sea Bees" somewhere in the islands of the South Pacific, Guam, Tinian , Saipan ? stringing up telephone wires in the palm trees and fighting with the Japanese. May 30th fell on a Tuesday that year and my big brother Butchie who was born on a Thursday May 4th was but two days away from turning 1 month old. My bigger sister Gerry was about to turn 4 in August. And Mom was coping as best she could as any wife with young children must have. Sad thing is familys are still going through that today some 61 years on......
But out in the wilds of Mastic Beach a guy name "Herman" was writing to Marie Zeitelhach(?) in Mount Vernon NY and was planning on going swimming and seeing the lovely Marie on Weds night .......ob la di ...ob la da life goes on