Bird's Eye View: The Oral History of Jack Puryear

Jack Martin Puryear was born on 8 August 1923 in Beaumont, Texas to Ida Lee Pitman and Onie Mayes Puryear. He served in US Navy Photographic Squadron One (VD-1), the first of its kind in the Pacific, from early 1944 until the end of the war. The squadron was formed in 1943 to provide vital aerial intelligence for the war effort. As a part of VD-1, he would dodge flak, brave storms, survive shelling in an Allied airfield, and witness firsthand the effectiveness of the P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft over Japan.

It was at a weekend lodge in Woodville, Texas that Puryear, then a first-year at Lamar Junior College, heard the news about the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Puryear immediately enlisted to defend his country. He initially went to train as a pilot, but was prevented from flying due to astigmatism which developed during the time after he had enlisted. Given several alternative routes, Puryear chose to become an aerial photographer.

Aerial photography was pivotal in both the First and Second World Wars in gathering intelligence. In 1943 the US Navy deployed Photographic Squadron One (VD-1), formed by Fleet Admiral Nimitz, the first designated naval aerial photography unit. This unit captured bird’s-eye-view perspectives of the battlefield, highlighting areas for bombing, naval shelling, and aiding planning by providing information on troop concentrations, terrain, and fortifications. To take the photos, the unit used its nine B-24 “Liberator” bombers refitted to carry cameras instead of bombs and which were called PB4Y-1 aircraft.

As an aerial photographer, Puryear was mainly tasked with creating mosaic maps. Mosaic maps were made by piecing together photographs taken by several different planes in formation. Together, these photos created a more complete picture of the target than any one camera could provide. However, the method had a drawback: the planes would have to fly in close formation, straight, and level. This made them prime targets for flak and enemy fighters, as Puryear vividly recalls. To counteract this ease of interception, the unit would often fly alongside a complement of B-26 bombers and Corsair fighters who drew fire from the planes by attacking at lower altitudes.

The squadron began its operations out of Guadalcanal, the first island base seized by the U.S. in the Pacific War. Tasked with gathering intelligence for the invasions of key strategic points Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and later in the war, Peleliu, an island within Palau. Flying over Peleliu, Puryear recalls how the unit experienced harrowing encounters with Japanese Zeros:

Sending out an S.O.S., Puryear’s plane was rescued by an Australian Coastwatcher and his six indigenous aides. The shore spotters or Coastwatchers were members of an intelligence network that would observe the strength and movements of Japanese forces, or guide and rescue pilots. These networks often relied on indigenous peoples throughout the Pacific.

After operating on Guam and Truk, a small atoll within the Caroline Islands and seized early in 1944, Puryear transferred to Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa, beginning in April of 1945, would be the largest and last major amphibious invasion of the war and Puryear was stationed on the island only two days after his unit’s airfield was seized. On Okinawa he would see combat not just in the air, but also on the ground, experiencing a near miss from a blast of shrapnel and vicious shelling. Okinawa would have been the staging point for a planned future invasion of Japan: Operation Downfall. In preparation for this titanic operation Puryear was at the spearhead tasked with gathering intelligence for the invasion of the Japanese island of Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese mainland. There, he flew through waves of flak and enemy fighters, which he witnessed firsthand engaging with a P-51 Mustang fighter escort.

Still operating out of Okinawa, Puryear would face further danger from a typhoon later dubbed typhoon Viper. In June of 1945, Viper was on course to devastate Okinawa and VD-1 was forced to evacuate. Unfortunately, they were caught on their way back to a base on Guam. Puryear recalls plunging downward a thousand feet on an air pocket, and the bizarre effects of the static electricity build-up in the storm. The electricity caused the carbon build-up inside the aircraft’s 50 caliber machine guns to create flames almost a foot long, and for the wings and propellers to crackle with silver-white electricity. They escaped the storm, which was strong enough to snap the bow off of the heavy cruiser USS Pittsburgh, after around 2 hours and safely returned to Guam.

The photographs taken of Kyushu would never be used, as Imperial Japan surrendered, and Puryear flew back to the United States. Puryear would continue to serve in the United States Navy, becoming an aviation supply officer on a carrier in the Korean War. Following his release from active duty, Puryear joined the University of Texas Defense Research Unit. After 22 years, Puryear retired from the Navy with his wife Janet, having risen from a Photographer's Mate First Class to a Lieutenant Commander. In addition, Puryear started his own real estate and general insurance firm called Niemand, Hanks, and Puryear, this insurance firm became Frost Insurance, which remains in business as of June of 2025.

Click here to hear Jack Puryear’s story in his own words.