Barrage balloon, Parris Island, S.C

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Barrage balloons were a familiar sight over Parris Island, South Carolina, the Marine Corps recruit depot where new enlistees trained during the Second World War. These large tethered balloons were flown to make low-altitude air attack harder, since their cables could snag or deter enemy aircraft. Training camps and coastal installations like this one often hosted such equipment, and the picture shows how the depot's grounds served a wartime defense role alongside its work of preparing recruits.

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