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"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine ... "
July 1942. "U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. Midshipmen resting on the lawn." Photo by Lieutenant Whitman for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Interesting to note the bodies of naturally fit and athletic young men in the 1940s when compared to today's men, who with the aid of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone supplements now have to show six pack abs and enormous pecs. And we used to think that only women were terrorized by body image.
I can smell the testosterone coming out of the screen!
This would be like an unlimited buffet to any eligible young ladies of that era. Many of these men would have become naval officers during WW2.
This scene of mild exercise and relaxed sunning, is in sharp contrast just a few weeks earlier when the US Navy achieved its greatest victory -- at the Battle of Midway.
How many of these young men would taste the sting of battles yet remaining in the Pacific?
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