This scrapbook page from the Pat McAleer collection pairs a squadron photograph with a personal memorial. VMF-112 trained Marine Corps aviators on the F4U Corsair at Santa Barbara during 1943-1944, preparing pilots for combat in the Pacific. The handwritten note beneath the lower photograph — marking the death of a serviceman named McAlister at Santa Barbara in 1943 — is a quiet reminder that training itself carried real risk, and that losses occurred long before squadrons ever reached the front lines. Project: 218303