Today’s Memorial Day “Pic of the Day” captures a striking moment of transition: young Navy recruits receiving their first uniforms at boot camp, likely in Great Lakes, Illinois, during the 1950s. Stripped of civilian clothes, individuality, and privacy, these men stood vulnerable as they were issued military gear—a symbolic rebirth into the rigid discipline of service. This ritual, captured in stark black and white, reminds us that military sacrifice begins long before the battlefield. It starts in moments like these, where young men are shaped into soldiers, sailors, and Marines—often scared, often brave, and always changed. Many of them would go on to serve in wars far from home, some never to return. On this day of remembrance, we honor not only the fallen, but all who gave themselves, body and soul, to the uniform.
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Thanks to the Americans who delivered us from the Nazis.
Today we remember the bombing of Marseille on May 27, 1944. The bombings caused many civilian deaths and injuries. The bombs did not destroy anything important but many civilian buildings : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardement_de_Marseille_(1944)
Nothing liked that happened when I received my AF uniforms in 1984. I remember all of us marching down to the clothing office and we stood in formation, called to the window, and we had to yell out our sizes when requested. I was 27 when I went into the military. Just at the cut-off. I knew my sizes like the back of my hand-underwear, socks, t-shirts, pants, shirts, shoes... There were several guys who were clueless. More than likely their mothers shopped for them. We were never really naked except on our own, outside of daily instruction. Alone in the multibed dorm we would run around naked showering, shaving, and getting ready for wherever we needed to be. For the most part our drill instructors only came into the dorm after we were dressed for the day.
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