This official Navy Department letter, dated 7 July 1943, formally designated Second Lieutenant Edward P. McAleer, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, as a Naval Aviator upon his completion of flight training at the Naval Air Training Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. During World War II, Corpus Christi trained tens of thousands of Navy and Marine Corps pilots, and receipt of this designation marked the culmination of months of rigorous flight instruction, earning the recipient his coveted 'Wings of Gold.' Project: 218157