We tend to think of World War II soldiers as the manliest, most conservative, hard-knuckled bunch of brutes who ever lived. And they probably were. To defeat the Nazis and the Japanese, it took some muscle and old-timey masculine murderous energy. But it turns out, even the Greatest Generation had their feminine side.

When a bunch of men are put together to fight, away from all women, and faced with immense pressure, they have to figure out how to let off some steam. Sure, there were fights and weird contests like collecting ears and guns. But photo evidence shows one of the main ways they kept themselves entertained was doing drag.

No women around meant taking a page out of Shakespeare's playbook, and all of a sudden the Band of Brothers looked like contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s genuinely cool and kind of heartwarming to see these tough-as-nails commandos doing each other's makeup, prancing around like Marilyn Monroe, and seeing a lighter, frillier side of war.