A Look Back at Ocean City
By Fred Miller
War was not far from the coast of Cape May County as summer of 1940 began. Nazi troops were in Paris, and they were planning to be in London before summer was over. Ocean City Beach Patrol’s captain, Jack G. Jernee, a veteran of World War I, knew the time was right for a patriotic ceremony.
He led a fundraising drive to buy a flagpole for the boardwalk. The people in Ocean City responded quickly and at nine o’clock on the morning of the Fourth of July, a color guard of ten lifeguards—Roscoe Faunce Jr., Harry Bunting III, Irving Humphrey, James Thompson, Karl Scott, Emerson Smith, Victor Bender, Walter Stickel, Monte Burhyte, and Jack Dwight—dressed in white trousers, blue blazers, white belts, and white gloves, marched up the boardwalk from their 10th Street headquarters to the new flagpole on the south side of the Music Pier.
From amplifiers atop the flagpole, the people on the boardwalk could hear Kate Smith singing “God Bless America.” As the lifeguards raised the flag, “The Star Spangled Banner” was played. After securing the flag high above the boardwalk, the lifeguards marched back to their headquarters. The ceremony was repeated at six o’clock when the flag was lowered.
This patriotic ceremony was held every morning and evening until Sunday, September 8. On that evening, over 2,000 spectators packed the boardwalk to watch the lifeguards lower Old Glory for the last time that summer.
This patriotic ceremony took place every day during the summer until 1946.
A dedication for the flagpole was held on Memorial Day 2021. This summer, the flag raising ceremony begins at 9:00 am everyday through September 11, 2023.
