Lee Embree
Encyclopedia
Lee Embree was an American
Army
staff sergeant
and photographer who took the first air-to-air photographs of the Japan
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
in 1941. Embree took the pictures of the attack from on board an Army Air Corps
B-17 which he happened to be flying on from California
to Hawaii
on December 7, 1941 as the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor
.
. He married his first wife, Elizabeth Gene "Betty" Lain on February 22, 1941. Lain died in 1998 and he married his second wife, Violet "Vi" Timm McRoberts, in 2001.
in 1936. By 1941, the year of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Embree had become a staff sergeant
.
The day before the attacks, Embree was assigned to be a passenger on one of the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortresses, which were based at Hamilton Field, California. Embree, and the rest of the personnel on the planes, were headed to the Philippines
from California
. Their trip included a refueling stop at Hickam Field, which is located near Honolulu, Hawaii
. Embree, who was being permanently transferred from Albuquerque, New Mexico
, to the Philippines, brought his Speed Graphic
camera with him for the trip.
The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron
, which included 12 planes including the one Embree was flying in, arrived in the skies over Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941, just 30 minutes after the start of the Japanese attack. According to a story in the Peninsula Daily News, the planes would have arrived even earlier if the squadron
had not conducted a navigation
check shortly after leaving California. All of the B-17s were defenseless. The planes carried no machine guns or ammunition
in order to carry more fuel and less weight on the long flight from California.
Embree, who was 26 years old at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor
, managed to take photograph
s from the air of the damaged USS Arizona
using his personal camera
. He also took pictures of Japanese planes and even the pilots' faces as they were flying past his B-17. He recalled in a later interview that he could see Japanese fighter pilots, "grinning from ear to ear."
The American squadron of unarmed B17s were hit by both Japanese and friendly fire
. American forces on the ground mistook the planes' Army Air Corps insignia
for the Japanese rising sun flag
. Embree survived the attack because he had switched seats with a flight surgeon on another B17 before taking off from California.
They had switched so Embree could connect his mounted camera to the B17's 24-volt
electrical system for the routine California to Hawaii flight. A bullet hit some incendiary flares on that B17 during the attack, which killed the flight surgeon and another man on that plane.
Embree snapped a number of pictures of the attack, but eventually stopped. In an 2001 interview
, he explained "Many people have asked me why I didn't take more photos from the air...I can only answer that I was so flabbergasted at what I saw that I forgot about the camera that was in my hand."
Embree's plane ran out of fuel by the time of their third circle over Pearl Harbor and was forced to land, even as the attack was still in progress. While the Japanese had destroyed the hangar
s and airplanes at Hickam Field, they had strategically not damaged the airfield, which allowed Embree's plane to land. Embree and his crew quickly evacuated their planes, and removed anything that might catch fire, and fled into the brush surrounding the base. They stayed in the bushes that night, living off of cold sandwiches, coffee
and sheltering under a tarp
.
. Instead, Embree's negatives were sent to Washington D.C. at the orders of the United States Secretary of the Navy
Frank Knox
. According to Embree, "The next time I saw one of my photos, it was on the front cover of an Australia
n magazine
."
Embree's negatives were returned to him years after the Pearl Harbor attacks. They were sent to Embree in a brown envelope which was covered in Army postmarks from across the Pacific Ocean
.
Some of Embree's historic photographs later appeared in Life Magazine, Time Magazine and other publications. Copies of many of his Pearl Harbor photographs are currently housed at the National Archives and Records Administration
in Washington D.C.
until February 1942 when he was stationed in Fiji
for the following nine months. During World War II, Embree became a combat photographer with the Army Signal Corps. He served in a number of locations and theaters throughout the Pacific, including New Caledonia
, New Zealand
, the Philippines and Guadalcanal
(Solomon Islands
). He visited Santo Thomas University in Manila
, which was used as a POW camp by the Japanese, soon after its liberation by United States forces.
for many years. Embree moved to Port Angeles, Washington
, in 1988.
Embree continued working in photography
after he left the U.S. military in 1957. He continued snapping his trademark
aerial photographs as late as 2003, when he documented the groundbreaking
ceremonies for the Hood Canal Bridge
graving yard as well as the celebrations for the Port Angeles Fourth of July festivities.
Embree was interview
ed in 2003 by a production crew
for the Discovery Channel
for a documentary
on the Pearl Harbor attacks. He also appeared in the KCTS series
Stories of the Northwest in 2007. The locally produced series, which focused on the lives of World War II
veteran
s in the Pacific Northwest
, was aired as a complement to PBS' The War
.
He actually outlived the local Juan de Fuca
Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
. The Juan de Fuca Chapter was formed in 1991, fifty years after the attack, but disbanded in 2004 due to the deaths of members from old age.
Embree's photographs, as well as his Speed Graphic
camera, goggles and dog tag
s, were placed on display at the Museum of Flight
at Boeing Field
in Seattle, Washington
, in 2007.
at the age of 92. He was buried at Mount Angeles Memorial Park. He was survived by his second wife, as well two children, three grandchildren, three stepchildren and five step-grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
and photographer who took the first air-to-air photographs of the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
in 1941. Embree took the pictures of the attack from on board an Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
B-17 which he happened to be flying on from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
on December 7, 1941 as the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
.
Personal life
Lee Embree was born and raised in IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. He married his first wife, Elizabeth Gene "Betty" Lain on February 22, 1941. Lain died in 1998 and he married his second wife, Violet "Vi" Timm McRoberts, in 2001.
Pearl Harbor photographs
Embree first enlisted in the Army Air CorpsUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
in 1936. By 1941, the year of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Embree had become a staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
.
The day before the attacks, Embree was assigned to be a passenger on one of the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortresses, which were based at Hamilton Field, California. Embree, and the rest of the personnel on the planes, were headed to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Their trip included a refueling stop at Hickam Field, which is located near Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
. Embree, who was being permanently transferred from Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, to the Philippines, brought his Speed Graphic
Speed Graphic
Produced by Graflex in Rochester, New York, the Speed Graphic is commonly called the most famous press camera. Although the first Speed Graphic cameras were produced in 1912, production of later versions continued until 1973; with the most significant improvements occurring in 1947 with the...
camera with him for the trip.
The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron
38th Reconnaissance Squadron
The 38th Reconnaissance Squadron is part of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It operates the RC-135 aircraft conducting reconnaissance missions.-Mission:...
, which included 12 planes including the one Embree was flying in, arrived in the skies over Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on December 7, 1941, just 30 minutes after the start of the Japanese attack. According to a story in the Peninsula Daily News, the planes would have arrived even earlier if the squadron
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
had not conducted a navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
check shortly after leaving California. All of the B-17s were defenseless. The planes carried no machine guns or ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
in order to carry more fuel and less weight on the long flight from California.
Embree, who was 26 years old at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, managed to take photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s from the air of the damaged USS Arizona
USS Arizona (BB-39)
USS Arizona, a , was built for the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state's recent admission into the union, the ship was the second and last of the Pennsylvania class of "super-dreadnought" battleships. Although commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside...
using his personal camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
. He also took pictures of Japanese planes and even the pilots' faces as they were flying past his B-17. He recalled in a later interview that he could see Japanese fighter pilots, "grinning from ear to ear."
The American squadron of unarmed B17s were hit by both Japanese and friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
. American forces on the ground mistook the planes' Army Air Corps insignia
Insignia
Insignia or insigne pl -nia or -nias : a symbol or token of personal power, status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction...
for the Japanese rising sun flag
Rising Sun Flag
The is the military flag of Japan. It was used as the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army and the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy until the end of World War II...
. Embree survived the attack because he had switched seats with a flight surgeon on another B17 before taking off from California.
They had switched so Embree could connect his mounted camera to the B17's 24-volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
electrical system for the routine California to Hawaii flight. A bullet hit some incendiary flares on that B17 during the attack, which killed the flight surgeon and another man on that plane.
Embree snapped a number of pictures of the attack, but eventually stopped. In an 2001 interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
, he explained "Many people have asked me why I didn't take more photos from the air...I can only answer that I was so flabbergasted at what I saw that I forgot about the camera that was in my hand."
Embree's plane ran out of fuel by the time of their third circle over Pearl Harbor and was forced to land, even as the attack was still in progress. While the Japanese had destroyed the hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
s and airplanes at Hickam Field, they had strategically not damaged the airfield, which allowed Embree's plane to land. Embree and his crew quickly evacuated their planes, and removed anything that might catch fire, and fled into the brush surrounding the base. They stayed in the bushes that night, living off of cold sandwiches, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and sheltering under a tarp
Tarp
Tarp may mean:* Tarpaulin, a large sheet of strong, flexible, water resistant or waterproof material.* Tarp, Germany, a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.TARP or T.A.R.P. may mean:...
.
Film negatives
Lee Embree took his film to a camera shop the next day, December 8, to be developed. The camera shop developed Embree's photographs, but refused to return his 4-by-5-inch film negativesNegative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
. Instead, Embree's negatives were sent to Washington D.C. at the orders of the United States Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
Frank Knox
Frank Knox
-External links:...
. According to Embree, "The next time I saw one of my photos, it was on the front cover of an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
."
Embree's negatives were returned to him years after the Pearl Harbor attacks. They were sent to Embree in a brown envelope which was covered in Army postmarks from across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Some of Embree's historic photographs later appeared in Life Magazine, Time Magazine and other publications. Copies of many of his Pearl Harbor photographs are currently housed at the National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
in Washington D.C.
World War II
Embree remained based at Pearl Harbor as an aerial photographerAerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
until February 1942 when he was stationed in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
for the following nine months. During World War II, Embree became a combat photographer with the Army Signal Corps. He served in a number of locations and theaters throughout the Pacific, including New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Philippines and Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
(Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
). He visited Santo Thomas University in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, which was used as a POW camp by the Japanese, soon after its liberation by United States forces.
Later life
Embree enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1945. He officially retired as a major from the military in 1957. He and his family lived and worked in Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
for many years. Embree moved to Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles, Washington
Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...
, in 1988.
Embree continued working in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
after he left the U.S. military in 1957. He continued snapping his trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
aerial photographs as late as 2003, when he documented the groundbreaking
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
ceremonies for the Hood Canal Bridge
Hood Canal Bridge
The Hood Canal Bridge is a floating bridge located in the U.S. state of Washington that carries Washington State Route 104 across Hood Canal and connects the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. At long, The Hood Canal Bridge (officially William A. Bugge Bridge) is a floating bridge located in the U.S....
graving yard as well as the celebrations for the Port Angeles Fourth of July festivities.
Embree was interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
ed in 2003 by a production crew
Television crew
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew, but with several differences.-Pre-production:-Casting Director:-Costume designer:-Director:* Associate Director -Location Manager:-Make-up artist:...
for the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
for a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on the Pearl Harbor attacks. He also appeared in the KCTS series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Stories of the Northwest in 2007. The locally produced series, which focused on the lives of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
s in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
, was aired as a complement to PBS' The War
The War (documentary)
The War is a 2007 American seven-part documentary television mini-series about World War II from the perspective of the United States that premiered on September 23, 2007...
.
He actually outlived the local Juan de Fuca
Juan de Fuca
Ioánnis Fokás , better known by the Spanish transcription of his name, Juan de Fuca , was a Greek-born maritime pilot in the service of the king of Spain, Philip II...
Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, founded in 1958 and recognized by the United States Congress in 1985, is an organization whose members were at or in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941....
. The Juan de Fuca Chapter was formed in 1991, fifty years after the attack, but disbanded in 2004 due to the deaths of members from old age.
Embree's photographs, as well as his Speed Graphic
Speed Graphic
Produced by Graflex in Rochester, New York, the Speed Graphic is commonly called the most famous press camera. Although the first Speed Graphic cameras were produced in 1912, production of later versions continued until 1973; with the most significant improvements occurring in 1947 with the...
camera, goggles and dog tag
Dog tag
A pet ID tag, or pet tag is a small flat tag worn on pets' collars or harnesses.Humane societies and rescue organizations recommend that dogs and cats wear these tags, which contain information to enable someone encountering a stray animal to contact the owner.Some people object to pet id tags...
s, were placed on display at the Museum of Flight
Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum at King County International Airport , south of downtown Seattle, Washington. It was established in 1965 and is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums...
at Boeing Field
Boeing Field
Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a two-runway airport owned and run by King County, Washington, USA. In promotional literature, the airport is frequently referred to as KCIA, but this is not the airport identifier. The airport has some passenger service, but is mostly...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, in 2007.
Death
Lee Embree died at his home in Port Angeles on January 24, 2008, of a kidney infectionUrinary tract infection
A urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection that affects any part of the urinary tract. Symptoms include frequent feeling and/or need to urinate, pain during urination, and cloudy urine. The main causal agent is Escherichia coli...
at the age of 92. He was buried at Mount Angeles Memorial Park. He was survived by his second wife, as well two children, three grandchildren, three stepchildren and five step-grandchildren.