June 30, 201511 yr #1 I picked up two nice group portraits, both related to Officer training. The first one, posted here, is what believe might be referred to as a "yard long" piece. The caption at the bottom of the photo reads: "Officer Candidates Preparatory School #10 Fort McClellan, ALA Dec - 1942 As I was making photo copies of this portrait I noticed that there was a small group of "colored" Soldiers (using the un-PC term in use at that time) posing in the front row. As the U.S. military was segregated at the time I'm curious if any of these men went on to be Tuskegee pilots.
June 30, 201511 yr Author #2 This second group portrait is relatively small, however it has to be one of the coolest ones I've picked up. This is a group of young men of the 31st College Training Detachment, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Portrait is simply marked as having been taken "Saturday - 6 - 1943" These young men all wear an aviation insignia on the lower right sleeve of their uniforms - I assume that the majority of these fine young men went on to be U.S. Army Air Force Pilots (or crew). The best thing about this portrait is that each man's name is written on the reverse of the picture, along with a number. The picture's owner even went so far as to note "best friends" with an asterisk next to certain names! When this photo is held up to the light (looking at the light through the backside of the picture) numbers appear over the face of the individual named. Curious if any of these men went on to prominence as Army pilots - any Aces in the bunch.
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