Ocean City lifeguards pose 100 years ago for their annual group picture. Captain Alfred R. Smith is standing on the left side and Mayor Harry Headley is on the right.

The week of August 3 to 10 was the busiest of the summer for the lifeguards that year. The air and water temperatures were delightful, and the beach was crowded with people enjoying the sun and surf.

The lifeguards were trained and ready to watch over the bathers, but that week they faced a unique task. They had to clear the 10^th Street beach of people so a flying machine carrying U. S. Mail could take off and land.

Pilot Marshall Earl Reid was authorized to carry the mail between Ocean City and Stone Harbor on August 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The Ocean City Sentinel reported the news of the first airmail flight in New Jersey: “More than 500 pieces of mail were carried here from Stone Harbor by Mr. Reid in his flying machine Monday afternoon. He made the trip up with a headwind in 29 minutes, and thousands saw him make a graceful circle out over the ocean and land on the beach just below Hand’s Pier.”