"A group of Army wives lies in a starburst pose at WSNM. During the years of World War II, visits by the United Services Organization (USO) for morale purposes were common. Soldiers or their significant others would travel from Fort Bliss, Texas, about 100 miles south, or Alamagordo Army Airfield, just six miles east, to visit the eye-catching sands."[1]

1. Joseph T. Page II, White Sands National Monument, Arcadia Publishing (2013), p.14.