The picture is scanned from volume 17 of The Book of Knowledge published in 1957 as a children's encyclopedia. The subject of the article in this encyclopedia is the United States Naval Academy.
The same picture was also published in local newspapers of those pictured. The caption in an August 1951 Syracuse Herald-Journal follows:
THUMBS UP! Ensign P.B. MacKeith, USN, shows newly arrived "plebes" (left to right) Norman K. Palladino, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis R. Palladino of 102 Doll Pkwy.,; William R. Ball of Washington, D.C.,; Ensign MacKeith and Arthur P. Winfrey, of Clinton, N.C., how not to get an "M1 thumb" while releasing the bolt of the service rifle.