US Navy Coxswain Joe Earl Purvis was born in Flomaton in 1923, the son of Joel Guy Purvis (1887-1951 Bayview) and Frances Capers (1894). His parents were married on May 28, 1911 and his father was raised in the Flomaton/Pollard area of Alabama. The family would eventually move to Pensacola between 1930-1938 where they secured a residence at 414 South Alcaniz Street. Here, his father obtained a job as a laborer for the WPA (Work Projects Administration) in the latter stages of the Great Depression. By 1940, the family was renting a house at 428 East Intendencia Street and Earl had even gotten a job as a messenger for a retail grocery. Life was definitely getting better as the depression began easing off somewhat.
Then came the day that Earl decided to enlist, whether for patriotic reasons or economic ones we'll never know. He had only reached the sixth grade in school, so he was limited in his pursuit for high paying jobs. And Pearl Harbor was still six months in the future when he enlisted on June 5, 1941. He was sent to Birmingham for processing before being transported to boot camp in San Diego, CA. Following his initial training he was assigned to the destroyer tender, USS Denebola (AD-12) on September 19, 1941. Earl joined his ship at Casco Bay, Maine where they tended to the needs of the destroyers and other ships. After Pearl Harbor, the war in the Pacific became desperate so Earl was transferred to the destroyer USS Greer (DD-145) on July 29, 1942. Ten months before, the Greer became the first American to fire shots in WWII, even though we were not at war yet. It became known as the "Greer Incident" when the ship dropped depth charges on a German submarine (U-652) after she fired a torpedo at the destroyer.
By 1943, the tide of war had begun to shift in the Pacific, but there was still a desperate fight ahead. Thus, Earl was transferred to the destroyer USS Spence (DD-512) on January 8, 1943. On November 2, 1943, the Spence was part of an intercepting force protecting the Marine landing at Bougainville the day before. The Japanese sent a flotilla that was intercepted by Task Force #39 with the Spence in the vanguard. Following the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, the Japanese was forced to withdraw. At the battle of Cape St. George on November 24th, the Spence again engaged a force of five enemy destroyers along with several other American ships. Three of the five enemy destroyers were sunk.
Other operations would follow until December 17, 1944 when they ran into Typhoon Cobra heading their way. To this day, controversary has surrounded Admiral Bull Halsey's decision as to the disbursement of his fleet prior to the typhoon. Despite plenty of warning but inaccurate weather information, he sailed Task Force #38 directly into the center of the typhoon rather than avoiding it. By the next day, the winds had reached 120-mph with gusts of 140-mph and mountainous seas causing as much as 70-degree rolls. Additionally, the destroyers were low on fuel, which meant their stability made them top heavy. To avoid being washed overboard, all but a few sailors aboard the Spence were sent below decks. Soon, the heavy rains and high seas flooded their smokestacks, disabled their engines and placed them at the complete mercy of the storm. It was then that the inevitable occurred and the Spence capsized taking the 317 sailors below deck with it. One of those unfortunate men was Joe Earl Purvis who now rests in the depths with his shipmates and his ship. The USS Hull joined her with 202 of her crew drowned and the USS Monaghan adding its 256 men as well. It was a disastrous day for TF-38's destroyer flotilla knowns as the "Little Beavers." And sadly, aboard the Monaghan was another Pensacola who joined Purvis.
Earl's family was notified of the fate of his ship and that their son was now missing in action. There was nothing more the Navy could do at this point but inscribe his name at the Ft. William McKinley's "Manila American Cemetery and Memorial."
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