Navy Photographic Interpretation Squadron One (Interpron One) Okinawa 1945


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This is the story of the production of the book which these photos came from.

Photographers Mate 2/C John M. (Jack) Creason was a trained aerial photographer with Navy Photo Group One, which consisted of Interpretation Squadron One and Fleet Air Photographic Squadron Three (VD-3) which flew PB4Y-1P Navy Liberator (B-24) photo recon planes.

The first echelon arrived at Okinawa on 27 May 1945 and made their first camp at Awase. By July 1945 they had moved into a temporary camp at Yontan Air Field. At war's end they moved into a more permanent camp at Yonabaru Air Field.

Jack took some of the photos for the book and helped print the book in October 1945. Approximately 200 copies were made for the men of Interpron One and VD-3.

The aerial photo cameras (Fairchild K-18) used by the recon squadron produced a 9 inch x 18 inch negative and they used sheets of 10 x 19 photographic paper to produce contact prints for intelligence gathering purposes. Since they had boxes full of 10 x 19 photograph paper they decided to print the books using this paper. Each book consisted of 36 pages of 10 x 19 photo paper with approximately 200 photos of the unit and scenes of Okinawa. The pages were punched with holes and tied together with string.

I want to thank Jack Creason, who is 92 years old, for filling me in on the details of this book and to thank him for his service to America in WWII.