1976 Point Pleasent, NJ - Bright star moving in square flight pattern

I was about 10 years old and my family was vacationing in a house in Point Pleasant, NJ. Our house was right on the ocean and also right next to the public beach and within walking distance to the boardwalk.
 It was about 9:00pm at night (or whenever it's officially dark)and there were 6 us (4 kids 2 adults). Everyone was in a festive mood and excited to be going to the boardwalk that night, talking over each other, and some of the kids were racing ahead. But I was busy looking at what I thought was a very bright star in the night sky (green I recall). Then it suddenly began to move in a square flight pattern, first down, then left, then up, then right, over and over. It was very far away, almost directly above so I really did believe it was a star until it started moving. I was tugging at my mother’s hand to get her to look, but she was busy trying to keep everyone together as we trapsed across the beach. I wasn’t afraid, and I don’t recall thinking it was a UFO at the time, just that it was a very unusual star.
 Unfortunately, once we got to the boardwalk I too was excited about the rides and games and completely lost interest in the anomaly.  As an adult, I now realize just how odd that really was and wish I had been more persistent in getting someone to look up.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD