Lee R. Embree

Lee R. Embree served as a photographer with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. 

Lee Raymond Embree was born in Iowa on July 9, 1915 and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1936. Embree was assigned to the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron as an aerial photographer. On December 7, 1941 Embree was a passenger on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, flying to the Philippines from California. The trip had included a refueling stop at Hickam Field near Honolulu, Hawaii and the squadron was on the island when the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. Embree, who was being permanently transferred from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Philippines, had brought his Speed Graphic camera with him for the trip and took photographs of the attack. Some of Embree's photographs of the historic event later appeared in Life magazine, Time magazine and other publications. 

Embree remained based at Pearl Harbor as an aerial photographer until February 1942 and then was stationed in Fiji for the following nine months. He became a combat photographer with the Army Signal Corps and served in a number of locations and theaters throughout the Pacific, including New Caledonia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Guadalcanal.

Embree enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1945. He retired as a Major from the military in 1957 and continued working in photography. He also became involved in the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. 

On February 22, 1941 Embree married Elizabeth Gene "Betty" Lain. Embree and his family lived and worked in Southern California for many years and moved to Port Angeles, Washington in 1988. Embree's wife, Betty, passed away in 1998 and he married his second wife, Violet "Vi" Timm McRoberts, in 2001. He died at his home on January 24, 2008 of a kidney infection.

Sources:

Biography derived from collection materials, donor information, and "Lee Embree," Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Embree).