In honor of the Marine Corps Birthday, here is one of the few (and proud, I suppose) Marine Corps cards in my collection. The colors on this card are great, despite being a bit faded from age. There’s some wear on each corner; it might have lived inside an album for a time. I’m going to guess that it was manufactured around 1945; the card is postally unused. It was made by the E.C. Kropp Company of Milwaukee.

Here’s what the Official Website for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton has to say about the site’s history:

In 1769, a Spaniard by the name of Capt. Gaspar de Portola led an expeditionary force northward from lower California, seeking to establish Franciscan missions throughout California. On July 20 of that same year, the expedition arrived at a location now known as Camp Pendleton, and as it was the holy day St. Margaret, they baptized the land in the name of Santa Margarita.

During the next 30 years, 21 missions were established, the most productive one being Mission San Luis Rey, just south of the present-day Camp Pendleton. At that time, San Luis Rey Mission had control over the Santa Margarita area.

In 1821, following Mexico’s independence from Spain, the Californios became the new ruling class of California, and many were the first generation descendants of the Portola expedition. The Mexican governor was awarding land grants and ranchos to prominent businessmen, officials and military leaders. In 1841, two brothers by the name of Pio and Andres Pico became the first private owners of Rancho Santa Margarita. More land was later added to the grant, making the name Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, and that name stayed with the ranch until the Marine Corps acquired it in 1942.

In 1863, a dashing Englishman named John Forster (Pio Pico’s brother-in-law) paid off Pico’s gambling debts in return for the deed to the ranch. During his tenure as owner of the ranch, he expanded the ranch house, which was first built in 1827, and developed the rancho into a thriving cattle industry.

Forster’s heirs, however, were forced to sell the ranch in 1882 because of a string of bad luck, which included a series of droughts and a fence law that forced Forster to construct fencing around the extensive rancho lands. It was purchased by wealthy cattleman James Flood and managed by Irishman Richard O’Neill who was eventually rewarded for his faithful service with half ownership. Under the guidance of O’Neill’s son, Jerome, the ranch began to net a profit of nearly half a million dollars annually, and the house was modernized and furnished to its present form.

In the early ‘40s, both the Army and the Marine Corps were looking for land for a large training base. The Army lost interest in the project, but in April of 1942 it was announced that the rancho was about to be transformed into the largest Marine Corps base in the country. It was named for Major General Joseph H. Pendleton who had long advocated the establishment of a West Coast training base. After five months of furious building activity, the 9th Marine Regiment marched from Camp Elliot in San Diego to Camp Pendleton to be the first troops to occupy the new base. On Sept. 25, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived for the official dedication.

I continue to be amazed at the vivid colors from Kay Anthony’s postcard collection. This is a “Genuine Curteich C.T. Art-Colortone”, number 2B-H1375, indicating manufacture in 1932. The resolution is also remarkable; you can make out a Coca-Cola sign on the building inside the letter E.

Kay’s home in Spartanburg was only 20 miles down what used to be the Georgia Highway (for my fellow Yankees, that means if you follow the highway long enough, you would reach Georgia) from Gaffney; it’s now the “Old Georgia Highway” and part of US Route 29. My friend James says she probably picked it up at the corner drug store, where it probably sat on a rack for years. It looks like she didn’t start collecting until the mid- to late-1940s.

“Famed throughout the world is Atlantic City’s Boardwalk. The Boardwalk overlooks the ocean and wide expanse of beach. There are eight miles lined with magnificent hotels, theatres and shops.” Now you know why the Boardwalk costs so much in Monopoly.

Unlike most large-letter cards, this one has a single scene of the Boardwalk, beach and ocean that spans all letters, instead of an individual scene in each letter. The card was published by Tichnor Bros. of Boston.

This is a beautiful, large-letter linen postcard in pristine condition (other than some fading due to age). Large letter postcards usually begin with “Greetings from…” and have various scenes of the location in each letter of the place name. If you’ve ever seen the album art from Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., it’s another great example. (I have that album on vinyl.)

Large-letter postcards are often highly prized by collectors, and as such are generally priced fairly high.

This card was made by the Eastern Photo Litho Company of Lowell, Massachusetts, and published by “Switzer Card Service, Watertown 72, Mass.” The use of the postal zone number places manufacture after 1943, and I’d be surprised if this card were manufactured any later than 1945.

This is a large-letter linen postcard, another personal message from Daisy Boyd to Great-Grandma Lottie. It was posted from Spartanburg, South Carolina on May 24, 1953. Daisy writes (typos in the original): “Dear Mrs. Smith. Hope your both feeling fine. We feel some better Mr. Boyd just had to get away with his folks. Haveing nice time picnicks & fishing eaten big ones. Will see you all some time this summer. Mrs. H. Boyd.”

From these postcards from Daisy Boyd, it sounds as if Homer (Mr. Boyd) used to love to leave Pennsylvania on a moment’s notice and go see the old folks down in South Cackalacky.