Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
–winning American journalist and
war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Pyle is also notable for the
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
he wrote as a roving human-interest reporter from 1935 through 1941 for the
Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
newspaper syndicate that earned him wide acclaim for his simple accounts of ordinary people across North America. When the United States entered World War II, he lent the same distinctive, folksy style of his human-interest stories to his wartime reports from the
European theater
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...
(1942–44) and
Pacific theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
(1945). Pyle won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his newspaper accounts of "
dogface Dogface may refer to:
*Dogface (TV series), ''Dogface'' (TV series), UK sketch show
*Dogface (military), US military term
*Dogface (album), ''Dogface'' (album), by Leash Law
*DogFace (book), ''DogFace'' (book), by Barbara O'Brien
Dogface may also ...
"
infantry soldiers from a first-person perspective. He was killed by enemy fire on
Iejima
, previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is ...
(then known as Ie Shima) during the
Battle of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
.
At the time of his death in 1945, Pyle was among the best-known American war correspondents. His syndicated column was published in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers nationwide.
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
said of Pyle, "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."
Early life and education
![Dana-Ernie-Pyle-birthplace-in](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Dana-Ernie-Pyle-birthplace-in.jpg)
Ernest "Ernie" Taylor Pyle was born on August 3, 1900, on the Sam Elder farm near
Dana, Indiana
Dana is a town in Helt Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 608 at the 2010 census. It is primarily a farming community.
History
Dana was platted in 1874 when the railroad was extended to that point. The town w ...
, in rural
Vermillion County, Indiana
Vermillion County lies in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana between the Illinois border and the Wabash River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,212. The county seat is Newport. It was officially established in 1824 and w ...
. His parents were Maria (Taylor) and William Clyde Pyle.
At the time of Pyle's birth his father was a tenant farmer on the Elder property.
Neither of Pyle's parents attended school beyond the eighth grade.
[
Pyle, an only child, disliked farming and pursued a more adventurous life.] After graduating from a local high school in Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
, Helt Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Pyle began his training at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
, but the war ended before he could be transferred to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station
Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center ...
for additional training.
Pyle enrolled at Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
in 1919,[Miller (1946), p. 13.] aspiring to become a journalist. However, IU did not offer a degree in journalism at that time, so Pyle majored in economics and took as many journalism courses as he could. Pyle began studying journalism in his sophomore year, the same year he joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
fraternity and began working on the ''Indiana Daily Student
The ''Indiana Daily Student'' (''IDS'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, since 1867. The ''IDS'' is free and distributed throughout the campus and ci ...
'', the student-written newspaper. During his junior year Pyle became the newspaper's city editor and its news editor; he also worked on the ''Arbutus'', the campus yearbook, although he did not enjoy the desk-bound work. Pyle's simple, storytelling writing style, which he developed while a student at IU, later became his trademark style as a professional journalist and earned him millions of readers as a columnist for Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
newspaper syndicate.
In March 1922, during his junior year at IU, Pyle and three of his fraternity brothers dropped out of school for a semester to follow the IU baseball team on a trip to Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Pyle and his fraternity brothers found work aboard the S.S. ''Keystone State''. During its voyage across the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, the ship docked at ports such as Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, and Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
, as well as in Japan before returning trip to the United States. Pyle's interest in traveling and exploring the world continued in his later years as a reporter.
After his trip across the Pacific, Pyle returned to IU Bloomington, where he was named editor-in-chief of the ''Indiana Summer Student'', the summer edition of the campus newspaper. During his senior year at IU, Pyle continued his work at the ''Daily Student'' and the ''Arbutus''. He also joined Sigma Delta Chi
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
, the journalism fraternity, and was active in other campus clubs. In addition, Pyle was selected as a senior manager of IU's football team, making him a letterman
Letterman may refer to:
* Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States
People
* David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host
** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...
along with the other members of the team in 1922.[Albright, p. 10.]
Pyle left school in January 1923 with only a semester remaining and without graduating from IU.
He took a job as a newspaper reporter for the ''Daily Herald'' in La Porte, Indiana
La Porte (French for "The Door") is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was estimated to be 21,341 in 2022. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, India ...
, earning $25 a week. Pyle worked at the ''Daily Herald'' for three months before moving to Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, to join the staff of ''The Washington Daily News
''The Washington Daily News'' was an afternoon tabloid-size newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
History
''The Washington Daily News'' was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The newspaper was born on November 8, 1921, an ...
''.[
]
Personal life
Pyle met his future wife, Geraldine Elizabeth "Jerry" Siebolds (August 23, 1899 – November 23, 1945), a native of Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, at a Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
party in Washington, D.C., in 1923.
They married in July 1925.[Brockman, pp. 46–47.] In the early years of their marriage the couple traveled the country together. In Pyle's newspaper columns describing their trips, he often referred to her as "That Girl who rides with me".[Albright, p. 11.] In June 1940, Pyle purchased property about from downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, and had a modest, home built on the site. The residence served as the couple's home base in the United States for the remainder of their lives.
Ernie and Jerry Pyle had a tempestuous relationship. He often complained of being ill, was a "heavy abuser of alcohol at times," and suffered from bouts of depression, later made worse from the stress of his work as a war correspondent during World War II. His wife suffered from alcoholism and periods of mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
(depression or bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
). She also made several suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
attempts.[ Although the couple divorced on April 14, 1942, they remarried by ]proxy
Proxy may refer to:
* Proxy or agent (law), a substitute authorized to act for another entity or a document which authorizes the agent so to act
* Proxy (climate), a measured variable used to infer the value of a variable of interest in climate re ...
in March 1943, while Pyle was covering the war in North Africa. They had no children.[ Newspapers reported that Jerry Pyle "took the news f her husband's deathbravely", but her health declined rapidly in the months following his death on April 18, 1945, while he was covering operations of American troops on ]Ie Shima
, previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, lying a few kilometers off the Motobu Peninsula on Okinawa Island. The island measures in circumference and covers . As of December 2012 the island had ...
. Jerry Pyle died from complications of influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
at Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, New Mexico, on November 23, 1945.
Career
Staff reporter and aviation columnist
In 1923, Pyle moved to Washington, D.C., to join the staff as a reporter for the ''Washington Daily News
The ''Washington Daily News'' is an American, English language daily newspaper headquartered in and serving Washington, North Carolina and Beaufort County, North Carolina. It was established in 1909. The paper also uses Facebook for sharing new ...
'', a new Scripps-Howard tabloid newspaper, and soon became a copy editor as well.[ Pyle was paid $30 a week for his services, beginning a career with Scripps-Howard that would continue for the remainder of his life. When Pyle joined the ''Daily News'' all the editors were young, including editor-in-chief John M. Gleissner, Lee G. Miller (who became a lifelong friend of Pyle)][
Charles M. Egan, Willis "June" Thornton Jr., and Paul McCrea.
By 1926, Pyle and his wife, Geraldine "Jerry", had quit their jobs. In ten weeks the couple traveled more than 9,000 miles across the United States in a ]Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
roadster. After briefly working in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for the ''Evening World
''The Evening World'' was a newspaper that was published in New York City from 1887 to 1931. It was owned by Joseph Pulitzer, and served as an evening edition of the ''New York World.''
History
The first issue was on October 10, 1887. It was publ ...
'' and the ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', Pyle returned to the ''Daily News'' in December 1927 to begin work on one of the country's first and its best-known aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
column, which he wrote for four years. Pyle's column appeared in syndication for the Scripps-Howard newspapers from 1928 to 1932. Although he never became an aircraft pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
, Pyle flew about as a passenger.[Johnson and Hays, p. 47.] As Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
later said, "Any aviator who didn't know Pyle was a nobody."
Human-interest and columnist
In 1932, at the age of thirty-one, Pyle was named managing editor at the ''Daily News'', serving in the position for three years before taking on a new writing assignment.[ In December 1934 Pyle took an extended vacation in the ]western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
to recuperate from a severe bout of influenza. Upon his return to Washington, D.C., and while he filled in for the paper's vacationing syndicated columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essay ...
Heywood Broun
Heywood Campbell Broun Jr. (; December 7, 1888 – December 18, 1939) was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, later known as The Newspaper ...
, Pyle wrote a series of eleven articles about his trip and the people he had met. The series proved popular with both readers and colleagues. G.B. ("Deac") Parker, editor-in-chief of the Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
newspaper chain, said he had found in Pyle's vacation articles "a sort of Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
quality and they knocked my eyes right out".
In 1935, Pyle left his position as managing editor at the ''Daily News'' to write his own national column as a roving reporter of human-interest stories for the Scripps-Howard newspaper syndicate.[ Over the next six years, from 1935 until early 1942, Pyle and his wife, Jerry, whom Pyle identified in his columns as "That Girl who rides with me," traveled the United States, ]Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, as well as Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, writing about the interesting places he saw and people he met. Pyle's column, published under the title of the "Hoosier Vagabond," appeared six days a week in Scripps-Howard newspapers. The articles became popular with readers, earning Pyle national recognition in the years preceding his even bigger fame as a war correspondent during World War II. Selected columns of Pyle's human interest stories were later compiled in ''Home Country
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
'' (1947),
published posthumously.[
Despite his growing popularity, Pyle lacked confidence and was perpetually dissatisfied with his writing; however, he was pleased when others recognized the quality of his work. Pyle's aviation and travel reports laid the groundwork for his life as a war correspondent. Pyle continued his daily travel column until 1942, but by that time he was also writing about American soldiers serving in ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.[
]
World War II correspondent
Pyle initially went to London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1940 to cover the Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
, but returned to Europe in 1942 as a war correspondent for Scripps-Howard newspapers. Beginning in North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
in late 1942, Pyle spent time with the U.S. military during the North African Campaign, the Italian campaign, and the Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
. He returned to the United States in September 1944, spending several weeks recuperating from combat stress before reluctantly agreeing to travel to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater
The Asiatic-Pacific Theater was the theater of operations of U.S. forces during World War II in the Pacific War during 1941–1945. From mid-1942 until the end of the war in 1945, two U.S. operational commands were in the Pacific. The Pacific O ...
in January 1945. Pyle was covering the invasion of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
when he was killed in April 1945.
European theater
Pyle volunteered to go to London in December 1940 to cover the Battle of Britain. He witnessed the German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
firebombing of the city and reported on the growing conflict in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. His recollections of his experiences from this period were published in his book, ''Ernie Pyle in England'' (1941).[Brockman, p. 47.] After returning to the United States in March 1941 and taking a three-month leave of absence from work to care for his wife, Pyle made a second trip to Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
in June 1942, when he accepted an assignment to become a war correspondent for Scripps-Howard newspapers. Pyle's wartime columns usually described the war from the common man's perspective as he rotated among the various branches of the U.S. military and reported from the front lines. Pyle joined American troops in North Africa and Europe (1942–44), and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater (1945).[ Collections of Pyle's newspaper columns from the campaigns he covered in the ]European theater
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...
are included in ''Here is Your War'' (1943) and ''Brave Men'' (1944).[
In his reports of the North African Campaign in late 1942 and early 1943, Pyle told stories of his early wartime experiences, which made interesting reading for Americans in the United States. Through his work, Pyle became friends of the enlisted men and officers, as well as those in leadership roles such as Generals ]Omar Bradley
Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. Bradley ...
and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
.[Gugin and St. Clair, eds., p. 280.] Pyle wrote that he was especially fond of the infantry "because they are the underdogs".[
Pyle lived among the U.S. servicemen and was free to interview anyone he wanted. As a noncombatant Pyle could also leave the front when he wanted. He interrupted his reporting in September 1943 and in September 1944 to return home to recuperate from the stresses of combat and care for his wife when she was ill.
Reinforcing his status as the ]dogface Dogface may refer to:
*Dogface (TV series), ''Dogface'' (TV series), UK sketch show
*Dogface (military), US military term
*Dogface (album), ''Dogface'' (album), by Leash Law
*DogFace (book), ''DogFace'' (book), by Barbara O'Brien
Dogface may also ...
G.I.'s best friend, Pyle wrote a column from Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in 1944 proposing that soldiers in combat should get "fight pay," just as airmen received " flight pay". In May 1944 the U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
passed a law that became known as the Ernie Pyle bill. It authorized 50 percent extra pay for combat service.[ Pyle's most famous column, "The Death of Captain Waskow," written in Italy in December 1943, was published on January 10, 1944, when Allied forces were fighting at the ]Anzio
Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...
beachhead in Italy.[ The notable story also marked the peak of Pyle's writing career.
After the ]North African
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and Italian campaigns, Pyle left Italy in April 1944, relocating to England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to cover preparations for the Allied landing at Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
. Pyle was among the twenty-eight war correspondents chosen to accompany U.S. troops during the initial invasion in June 1944. He landed with American troops at Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors designated for the amphibious assault component of operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" r ...
aboard a LST. On D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
Pyle wrote:
The best way I can describe this vast armada and the frantic urgency of the traffic is to suggest that you visualize New York city on its busiest day of the year and then just enlarge that scene until it takes in all the ocean the human eye can reach clear around the horizon and over the horizon. There are dozens of times that many.
In July 1944, Pyle was nearly caught in the accidental bombing by the U.S. Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
at the onset of Operation Cobra
Operation Cobra was the codename for an Offensive (military), offensive launched by the United States First United States Army, First Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Invasion of Norman ...
near Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.[liberation of Paris
The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germ ...]
in August 1944, Pyle publicly apologized to his readers in a column on September 5, 1944, stating that "my spirit is wobbly and my mind is confused" and he said that if he "heard one more shot or saw one more dead man, I would go off my nut". He later said he had "lost track of the point of the war" and that another two weeks of coverage would have seen him hospitalized with "war neurosis
Combat stress reaction (CSR) is acute behavioral disorganization as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue", "battle fatigue", or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used ...
".[ An exhausted Pyle wrote that he hoped that a rest at his home in ]New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
would restore his vigor to go "warhorsing around the Pacific".
Pacific theater
Pyle reluctantly headed for the Pacific theater in January 1945 for what became his final writing assignment.[ While covering the ]U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
and Marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
forces in the Pacific, Pyle challenged the Navy's policy forbidding the use of the names of sailors in reporting the war. He won a partial but unsatisfying victory when the ban was lifted exclusively for him.[Tobin, p. 234.] Pyle travelled on board the aircraft carrier . He thought the naval crew had an easier life than the infantry in Europe, and wrote several unflattering portraits of the Navy. In response, fellow correspondents, newspaper editorialists and G.I.s criticized Pyle (who was a former member of the U.S. Naval Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
) for his negative coverage of the Navy in his columns and for underestimating the difficulties of naval warfare in the Pacific. Pyle conceded that his heart was with the servicemen in Europe, but he persevered. After traveling to Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
and resuming his writing, Pyle went on to report on naval action during the Battle of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
, the largest amphibious assault
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
in the Pacific theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
during World War II.
Death
On more than one occasion, Pyle was noted for having premonitions of his own death. Before landing he wrote letters to his friend Paige Cavanaugh, as well as playwright Robert E. Sherwood
Robert Emmet Sherwood (April 4, 1896 – November 14, 1955) was an American playwright and screenwriter.
He is the author of '' Waterloo Bridge, Idiot's Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Rebecca, There Shall Be No Night, The Best Years of Our ...
, predicting that he might not survive the war.
On April 17, 1945, Pyle came ashore with the U.S. Army's 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division 77th Division or 75th Infantry Division may refer to:
*77th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), Germany
*77th Infantry Division of Khurasan, Iran
*77th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
*77th Division (People's Republic of China)
*77th Division (Spain ...
, on Ie Shima (now known as Iejima
, previously romanized in English as Ie Shima, is an island in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is ...
), a small island northwest of Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
that Allied forces had captured, but had not yet cleared of enemy soldiers.[ The following day, after local enemy opposition had supposedly been neutralized, Pyle was traveling by jeep with Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Coolidge, the commanding officer of the 305th and three additional officers toward Coolidge's new command post when the vehicle came under fire from a Japanese machine gun.][Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pp. 106–07.] The men immediately took cover in a nearby ditch. "A little later Pyle and I raised up to look around," Coolidge reported. "Another burst hit the road over our heads ... I looked at Ernie and saw he had been hit." A machine-gun bullet had entered Pyle's left temple just under his helmet, killing him instantly.
Pyle was buried wearing his helmet, among other battle casualties on Ie Shima, between an infantry private and a combat engineer. In tribute to their friend, the men of the 77th Infantry Division erected a monument that still stands at the site of his death. Its inscription reads: "At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945." Echoing the sentiment of the men serving in the Pacific theater, General Eisenhower said: "The GIs in Europe––and that means all of us––have lost one of our best and most understanding friends."
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
, who frequently quoted Pyle's war dispatches in her newspaper column, "My Day
''My Day'' was a newspaper column written by First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) six days a week from December 31, 1935, to September 26, 1962. In her column, Roosevelt discussed issues including civil rights, women's rights, an ...
," paid tribute to him in her column the day after his death: "I shall never forget how much I enjoyed meeting him here in the White House last year," she wrote, "and how much I admired this frail and modest man who could endure hardships because he loved his job and our men." President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, who had been in office for less than a week following the death of Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
on April 12, also paid tribute to Pyle: "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."[
After the war, Pyle's remains were moved to a U.S. military cemetery on Okinawa. In 1949, his remains were some of the first to be interred at the ]National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United Stat ...
in Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
, Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
, Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
.[
]
Writing style
Pyle's signature storytelling style was developed at IU and during his early years as a human-interest reporter. As a war correspondent he generally wrote from the perspective of the common soldier, explaining how the war affected the men instead of recounting troop movements or the activities of generals. His descriptions of or reactions to an event in simple, informal stories are what set his writing apart and made him famous during the war.[Johnson and Hays, pp. 48–49.]
Fellow journalists praised Pyle's writing. Walter Morrow, editor of the ''Rocky Mountain News
The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...
'', claimed that Pyle's columns from his travels across the United States in the 1930s were "the most widely read thing in the paper".[ During World War II Pyle continued to write about his experiences from the perspective of what he called "the worm's-eye view".][ In addition to publication of his columns in newspapers in the United States, Pyle's writing was the only writing from a civilian correspondent to be regularly published in the U.S. armed forces newspaper, '' Stars and Stripes''.][
Pyle's "everyman" approach to his wartime reporting earned him the ]Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for journalism in 1944.[
]
Popularity
Pyle was well known and popular among the American military.[Johnson and Hays, p. 48.] According to Sergeant Mack Morris, whose essay appeared in the U.S. army's weekly newspaper, '' Yank'': "The secret of Ernie's tremendous success and popularity, if there is any secret about it, is his ability to report a war on a personal plane."[Johnson and Hays, p. 53.] Artist George Biddle
George Biddle (January 24, 1885 – November 6, 1973) was an American painter, muralist and lithographer, best known for his social realism and combat art. A childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establi ...
wrote of how a battalion commander told him that Pyle was a poor writer, but was very popular because "he writes about and writes to the great, anonymous American average. They ... are thirsty for recognition and publicity".
Pyle's newspaper columns were popular in the United States with readers in a wide range of ages from older readers to high school and college students. In November 1942 Pyle's columns were distributed to 42 newspapers, but the number had increased to 122 newspapers by April 1943. When he returned to the United States for a break during the war, reporters and photographers made increasing demands for his time. In 1943 Pyle also gave interviews on radio programs to help sell war bonds. At the time of Pyle's death his columns appeared in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers.[
]
Legacy
Pyle is described as "the pre-eminent war correspondent of his era,"[ who achieved worldwide fame and readership for his World War II battlefield reports that were published from 1942 to 1945.][ Present-day war correspondents, World War II veterans, and historians still recognize Pyle's World War II dispatches as "the standard to which every other war correspondent should strive to emulate." As '']Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' magazine once described Pyle and his work: "He now occupies a place in American journalistic letters which no other correspondent of this war has achieved. His smooth, friendly prose succeeded in bridging a gap between soldier and civilian where written words usually fail."[
Pyle is best remembered for his World War II newspaper reports of the firsthand experiences of ordinary Americans, especially the G.I.s serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe in particular. His legacy also lies in the stories of soldiers who would otherwise be unknown. "The Death of Captain Waskow," published in January 1944, is considered Pyle's most famous column.][ In describing the soldiers he had met, Pyle remarked:]Their life consisted wholly and solely of war, for they were and always had been front-line infantrymen. They survived because the fates were kind to them, certainly – but also because they had become hard and immensely wise in animal-like ways of self-preservation.
In addition to his writing, Pyle's legacy includes the Ernie Pyle bill, whose content he proposed in one of his columns in early 1944. Congress passed formal legislation in May 1944 to provide American soldiers with a 50 percent increase in pay for their combat service.[ The U.S. Army also adopted Pyle's suggestion of providing ]overseas service bars
An Overseas Service Bar is an insignia worn by United States Army soldiers on the Army Service Uniform, and previously on the Army Green (Class A) and the Army Blue (Dress Blue) uniforms, that indicates the recipient has served six months overseas ...
on uniforms to designate six months of overseas service.[Johnson and Hays, p. 52.]
Pyle's papers and other archival materials related to his life and work are held at the Lilly Library
The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University (Bloomington), Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library co ...
, Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...
; the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum, Dana, Indiana; the Indiana State Museum; and the Wisconsin State Historical Society. The Indiana Historical Society
The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is one of the United States' oldest and largest historical societies and describes itself as "Indiana's Storyteller". It is housed in the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center at 450 West Ohio Street ...
acquired Ernie and Jerry Pyle's personal library from IU Bloomington's School of Journalism in 2005 and moved the collection to its headquarters in Indianapolis.
Honors and awards
* A two-time recipient of the National Headliners Club Award (1943 and 1944).
* Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his war correspondence in 1944.
* Featured on the cover of ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine, July 17, 1944.[
* Recipient of the ]Raymond Clapper
Raymond Clapper (1892–1944) was a commentator and news analyst for both radio and newspapersDeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 55 ...
Memorial Award in 1944 from the journalism fraternity Sigma Delta Chi (the present-day Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
).[
* The Sons of Indiana in New York City named Pyle the Hoosier of the Year in 1944.][
* Awarded an honorary doctorate from the ]University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...
.[
* Awarded an honorary ]Doctor of Humane Letters
The degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (; DHumLitt; DHL; or LHD) is an honorary degree awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society.
The criteria for awarding the degree differ ...
degree from Indiana University on November 13, 1944.
* The U.S. government posthumously awarded Pyle a Medal for Merit
The Medal for Merit was, during the period it was awarded, the highest civilian decoration of the United States. It was awarded by the President of the United States to civilians who "distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious conduct i ...
in July 1945.
* In 1983, Pyle was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
–a rare honor for a civilian—by the 77th Division's successor unit, the 77th Army Reserve Command.
* Recipient, posthumously, of the American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
's Distinguished Service Medal in 1945.
Tributes
* The employees of Boeing-Wichita, through the 7th War Loan Drive, paid for and built a Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
named the "Ernie Pyle," which was dedicated on May 1, 1945. Initially assigned to the Second Air Force at Kearney Air Force Base
Kearney Air Force Base is a former United States Army Air Forces (as Kearney Army Airfield) and United States Air Force base located near Kearney, Nebraska. It was in operation from 1942 through 1949, after which it was decommissioned and turne ...
, the B-29 named in Pyle's honor, Serial Number 44-70118, was sent to the Twentieth Air Force, Pacific Theater of Operations, on May 27, 1945. The plane was ferried to the Pacific theater by a crew under the command of Lieutenants Howard F. Lippincott and Robert H. Silver. The nose art was removed when the aircraft reached its intended operations base in the Pacific because the base commander thought it would become a prime target of the Japanese. The "Ernie Pyle" survived the war and was returned to the United States on October 22, 1945. It was stored at Pyote AAF, Texas, and disposed of as surplus on March 25, 1953.
* During the American occupation of Japan
Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the
Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States wi ...
, between 1945 and 1955, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater
is another home for Takarazuka Creative Arts in Yurakucho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo.
It served as the second round performing theater for the Revue's performing cycle. The original theater was built in 1934. It was taken over by the American GHQ af ...
in downtown Tokyo was renamed the Ernie Pyle Theater, a site that was popular with many American G.I.s.
* Scripps-Howard Newspapers established the Ernie Pyle Memorial Fund in 1953 to support the Ernie Pyle Award. Beginning in 1953, the award is given annually to reporters who "most nearly exemplify the style and craftsmanship for which Ernie Pyle was known".
* The Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
board of trustees voted in 1954 to officially name the building that housed the IU School of Journalism on the Bloomington campus as Ernie Pyle Hall. The previous year, Sigma Delta Chi had placed a marker honoring Pyle at the east end of the building. Ernie Pyle Hall is the present-day home of the Office of Admissions Welcome Center and the College of Arts and Sciences Center for Career Achievement.
* In 1970, Pyle's nephew, Bruce L. Johnson, placed a memorial plaque at Pyle's burial site at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United Stat ...
, Punchbowl Crater
Punchbowl Crater is an extinct volcanic tuff cone located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the location of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
The crater was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the secondary activity of the Hon ...
, Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
, Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
, Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
.
* On May 7, 1971, the U.S. Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...
issued a 16-cent postage stamp in Pyle's honor.
* Indiana University's annual Ernie Pyle Scholars Honors Program was established in 2006 for incoming freshman honors students majoring in journalism.
* In 2014. sculptor Tuck Langland
Tuck Langland is a sculptor who lives in Granger, Indiana. His monument-size bronze figures are featured in hospitals, churches, private collections, museums, sculpture gardens, and dozens of other places. He is perhaps best known for his two po ...
's bronze statue of Pyle was erected in front of Franklin Hall on the IU Bloomington campus. (The IU School of Journalism, the department of Telecommunications, and the Department of Communication and Culture also merged in 2014 to establish the IU Media School, which is housed in Franklin Hall)
* The first annual Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded in 2017 to a University of New Mexico journalism student.
* August 3, 2018, the inaugural National Ernie Pyle Day, was the result of a Congressional resolution drafted by the U.S. senators
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and power ...
from Indiana, Joe Donnelly
Joseph Simon Donnelly Sr. (born September 29, 1955) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States senator from Indiana from 2013 to 2019. Since 2022, he has served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy Se ...
and Todd Young
Todd Christopher Young (born August 24, 1972) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator for Indiana, a seat he has held since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Young previously served as the U.S. r ...
. Indiana governor
The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the State of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government ...
Eric Holcomb
Eric Joseph Holcomb (born May 2, 1968) is an American politician who is the 51st and current governor of Indiana, serving since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 51st lieutenant governor of Indiana from 2016 to 2017 unde ...
also proclaimed August 3, 2018, as Ernie Pyle Day in Indiana.[
]
Pyle historic sites
* In 1947, the Albuquerque City Council
The Albuquerque City Council is the elected legislative authority of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It consists of nine members, elected from respective districts of the city on a non-partisan basis. The form of city government is mayor–c ...
accepted Pyle's last home in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
, as a memorial to the late war correspondent. Since 1948 the former residence, known as the Ernie Pyle Library, has served as the first branch of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library is the public library system serving greater Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. It includes seventeen branch libraries as well as the downtown Main Library.
History
The Albuquerque Public Library open ...
. The library branch houses a small collection of adult and children's books, as well as Pyle memorabilia and archives. The Ernie Pyle House/Library was designated as a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
on September 20, 2006.
* The Ernie Pyle World War II Museum (Pyle's restored birthplace) includes a farmhouse that was moved from its original location to Dana, Indiana
Dana is a town in Helt Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 608 at the 2010 census. It is primarily a farming community.
History
Dana was platted in 1874 when the railroad was extended to that point. The town w ...
. The museum, which is open to the public, became a state historic site in July 1976; however, it is no longer part of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites system. Its present-day owners and operators are the Friends of Ernie Pyle.[ The museum's visitor center, constructed from two World War II-era ]Quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I ...
s features displays, mostly of Pyle's wartime career.
Other sites named in Pyle’s honor
* Elementary schools named for Pyle include buildings in Clinton, Indiana
Clinton is a city in Clinton Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, Clinton Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, Vermillion County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 4,893 at the 2010 census.
History
The city was established in 18 ...
; Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
, Indiana; Bellflower, California
Bellflower is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was founded in 1906 and municipal corporation, incorporated on September 3, 1957. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total popu ...
; and Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
.
* Other schools include Ernie Pyle Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
* A segment of U.S. Highway 36
U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is an east–west United States highway that travels approximately from Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado to Uhrichsville, Ohio. The highway's western terminus is at Deer Ridge Junction, an intersection i ...
from Danville, Indiana
Danville is a town in and the county seat of Hendricks County, Indiana, United States. The population was 9,001 at the 2010 census, up from 6,418 at the 2000 census. In 2019 the estimated population was 10,126.
History
Danville was founded in 18 ...
, to the Indiana/Illinois state line is known as the Ernie Pyle Memorial Highway. A memorial rest park named in Pyle's honor was established along U.S. 36, southeast of Dana.
* A road at Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Gear ...
, Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, bears his name, as well as a street at Fort Meade
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the N ...
, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
.
* A small island in Cagles Mill Lake
Cagles Mill Lake, also known as ''Cataract Lake'', is a reservoir located near Cataract, Indiana in Lieber State Recreation Area, in west central Indiana on the borders of Putnam County, Indiana, Putnam and Owen County, Indiana, Owen counties. It ...
, southeast of the town of Cunot in Owen County, Indiana
Owen County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 1920 the United States Census Bureau calculated the mean center of U.S. population to fall within this county. As of the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 21,575. Its county ...
, bears his name.
* Ernie Pyle Reserve Center, Fort Totten, Queens, New York.
In popular culture
* ''The Story of G.I. Joe
''The Story of G.I. Joe'', also credited in prints as ''Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe'', is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, i ...
'' (1945), starring Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
as Pyle, is based on Pyle's reports from North Africa and Italy, including "The Death of Captain Waskow " .[Johnson and Hays, p. 50.] The film's producers donated a major portion of the proceeds toward scholarships at Indiana University.
* On November 11, 1999, ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...
'' creator Charles Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wid ...
paid tribute to Veterans Day
Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...
with his comic strip of Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
honoring Ernie Pyle titled "Ernie Pyle – To Remember". The caption for Snoopy reads: "Another C-Ration Has Been Consumed in Your Honor, Ernie Pyle... We'll Never Forget You..."
* In 2002, the Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
toy company released an Ernie Pyle action figure.
* The protagonist/narrator of the Argentine comic book series ''Ernie Pike
''Ernie Pike'' is a comics series written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and originally drawn by Hugo Pratt, starring a World War II and Korean War reporter. It was first published in the magazine "'' Hora Cero"'' in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1957 ...
'' is said to have been inspired by Pyle, although the character physically resembles its creator.
Selected published works
Notable column
"The Death of Captain Waskow", Pyle's most famous column, was written in December 1943 and published on January 10, 1944.[ Th]
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
later selected it as "the best American newspaper column of all time".[Johnson and Hays, p. 49.] The organization has bestowed the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award annually since 1993.
Books
* Pyle's wartime writings are preserved in four books:
**''Ernie Pyle In England'' (1941)[
** ''Here Is Your War'' (1943)][
** ''Brave Men'' (1944) ][
** ''Last Chapter'' (1949)][Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pp. 127–28.]
* Selected columns of Pyle's human-interest stories:
** ''Home Country
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
'' (1947)[
]
See also
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Notes
References
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*Letterman, Gretchen (1974) ''This is Our Ernie Pyle. (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting association for Education in Journalism... a biographical sketch of Ernie Pyle...) San Diego, CA. August 1974'' from The Internet Archive
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Further reading
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External links
Ernie Pyle exhibit
and resources at Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University's Media School
*
"Wartime Columns
" Indiana University, Bloomington
"Ernie Pyle, U.S. War Correspondent
" in "History of the United States Army Reserve 77th Regional Support Command", Ernie Pyle Center, U.S. Army Reserve, Fort Totten, New York
Ernie Pyle Library
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Ernie Pyle WWII Museum
Dana, Indiana
obituary, ''New York Times'', April 19, 1945
"Writings of Ernie Pyle"
from C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
's '' American Writers: A Journey Through History''
"Ernie Pyle Photos"
from ''Story of G.I. Joe'' (1944), The Ned Scott
Ned Scott (April 16, 1907 – November 24, 1964) was an American photographer who worked in the Hollywood film industry as a still photographer from 1935–1948. As a member of the Camera Club of New York from 1930–34, he was heavily influe ...
Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyle, Ernie
1900 births
1945 deaths
American civilians killed in World War II
American male journalists
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
American war correspondents of World War II
E. W. Scripps Company people
Indiana University alumni
Journalists from Indiana
Journalists killed while covering World War II
Military personnel from Indiana
People from Vermillion County, Indiana
Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence winners
United States Navy reservists
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United States Navy personnel of World War I
Deaths by firearm in Japan
Burials in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
20th-century American journalists