Carnival of Genealogy 74 - Swimsuit Issue

This is my father, Arden Packard around 1915-1916 when he was four or five years old. He is wading in the Pacific Ocean. He was born in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, 29 April 1911. He went on to enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1929, and a year later took a competetive exam which qualified him for the Naval Academy. In 1934 he graduated. Though the picture shows him in the water, he preferred the air. Having been a member of his high school's Aero Club, he went on to take flight training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, being certified as a Naval Aviator in 1937, the year he also married my mother. During World War II, he was the lead flight instructor at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Keeping things in the family, my husband later worked at Jacksonville NAS in federal civil service!

The fashionable garment my father is wearing speaks for itself!