Photos capture a moment but can also tell an entire story. For retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Stacy Pearsall of Harleyville, she found a way to do both during her career in combat photography.

Her work will be on display beginning Oct. 21 at Greenville’s Upcountry History Museum.

Combat photography exhibit

Pearsall’s 10-year military career started when she enlisted in the Air Force at 17 years old. She spent her first four years doing intelligence work and processing film from U-2 spy planes before transitioning to the 1st Combat Camera Squadron.

“I applied for the 1-Combat Camara Squadron in Charleston,” Pearsall said. “By the time I got here, 9/11 had happened and most of my unit was deployed. From there I was on the road for 180 days or more a year.”

Throughout Pearsall’s six years with the squadron, she documented a variety of military operations including a critically injured soldier being loaded from an ambulance onto a military helicopter in Iraq. She also photographed soldiers before, during and after patrols.

Pearsall was wounded twice while on active duty and medically retired in 2010.

Life after the military

After her military career ended, Pearsall said she struggled to find her purpose outside of the Air Force.

“The physical recovery was challenging enough,” Pearsall said. “That took me 18 months. I think the mental part was even more difficult because all I had ever identified was being (with) a military person and being a combat photographer. The doctors were so focused on telling me the things I could not do and that’s all I really heard.”

One day while she was waiting at a Veterans Affairs Hospital, she met a World War II veteran who survived D-Day. That encounter inspired the Veterans Portrait Project.

A new chapter

For 10.13 GJ: Stacy Pearsall

Pearsall coordinated with the VA public affairs office and arranged to photograph veterans in waiting rooms at various hospitals as they waited for their appointments. She also recorded the veteran’s story.

Since 2009, Pearsall has documented more than 7,500 veterans across all 50 states.

Drawing from Pearsall’s more than 20-year combat photography career, Syracuse University in New York compiled a 45-photo exhibit called “Hard Earned: The Military Photographs of Stacy Pearsall & The Veteran’s Portrait Project.” It features images she has taken throughout her years as a combat photographer as well as her ongoing Veterans Portrait Project.

The exhibit will run from Oct. 21 to Jan. 14, 2024, at the Upcountry History Museum. It will be accompanied by a companion exhibition with military objects and archival materials from the museum’s permanent collection as well as some loaned objects.

For more information, visit upcountryhistory.org.

Combat photography fast facts

  • Traveled to more than 40 countries
  • Served in three combat tours of Iraq
  • Bronze Star Medal recipient
  • Air Force Commendation with valor for her combat actions in Iraq
  • Two-time winner of National Press Photographers Association’s Military Photographer of the Year award
  • Holds an honorary doctoral degree from The Citadel
  • Hosts and co-created “After Action” TV series on PBS