Fort Sheridan
Fort Sheridan was an Army base just north of Chicago. During World War II, it was an induction and training center, processing over half a million inductees. As part of an Army project to study different body types, some of these inductees were photographed nude.
These photos are sometimes confused with the Ivy League nude posture photos or the Navy pre-flight school nude photos at St. Mary's, but these photos are easily distinguished because each man stands on a base labeled "Ft. Sheridan".
A few dozen of these photos have been found (I have 36 of them), but the numbers on the base that each recruit stands on makes me wonder whether over 9000 inductees were photographed.
This photo of #9390 has been cropped so the rear view is missing.
Next time: more Fort Sheridan photos.
6 comments:
Thanks for sharing
Based on link (attached) there seems to be some question if the nude soldiers were American WWII inductees or German WWII POWs. Either way, it is still remarkable to see these young men full nude. Great photos!
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-government-ww2-fort-sheridan-1695291149
These photos appear older than other "ivy league" types you posted in the past. The image quality is more fuzzy. (perhaps it is the scan/compression) but the images seem to lack detail except for one of two in this batch.
I don't know what purpose there would be in photographing POWs in the nude. I can understand doing so for recruits to check their health/posture and compare after training is complete. But POWs ?
POWs were photographed nude for ID purposes (tatoos, birthmarks, scars, etc.) in case these features might be needed for possible escappees (easier to identify them).
@Anon 1 - It is possible that they are German POWs. Most of the sources of these photos say that they are American Army recruits, but none are primary sources that would give us a definite answer one way or the other.
@Anon 2 - The image quality is poorer on all but a few photos because the photos are much smaller. Click on the photos to see the original size. For the Ivy League photos I have high-quality originals.
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