Pensacola NAS
School of Photography
On February 20, 1942, ten Marines left San Diego by train and traveled to Pensacola NAS School of Photography. They arrived in Pensacola on February 24th and joined with Marines from Quantico to begin four months of photographic training. Many of these Marines would eventually use their training in the VMD-154 Photo Lab and during aerial photo reconnaissance missions in the South Pacific.
Each month of training focused on a different area of specialization:
month 1 - small cameras
month 2 - chemicals
month 3 - aerial photography
month 4 - movies
Students wore a button which clearly displayed a number indicating their current month of training. Marines in the Naval School of Photography's graduating class of June 26, 1942 included: Bortz, Freiburg, Gilbert, Goodchild, Harper, Jennings, Lease, Mulvihill, Nance, Naschinski, Nielsen, Setter, Shewmaker, Smith, Trombley, VanBeck, Williams, Willis, and Yates.
