Robert Joseph Casey (1890-1962) was a decorated combat veteran and distinguished

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based newspaper correspondent and columnist. Casey was born March 14, 1890, in

Beresford, South Dakota Beresford (; ) is a city in Lincoln and Union counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 2,180 as of the 2020 census. The southern two-thirds is part of the Sioux City, IA- NE-SD Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the no ...

, and attended St. Mary's College in St. Marys, Kansas from 1907 to 1911. Casey enlisted in the Army in 1918 and served at

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

and Meuse-Argonne as an artilleryman. He earned three citations for bravery in combat before his discharge as a captain in 1919. Casey later wrote (anonymously) ''The Cannoneers Have Hairy Ears: A Diary of the Front Lines'' about his wartime experiences, and this book was acclaimed for its gritty and realistic depictions of an American soldier in World War I. In 1920, Casey joined the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'', where he worked as a columnist and foreign correspondent for twenty-seven years. Casey wrote features, chronicled the Chicago gang wars of the era, and compiled "slice of life" stories, which were published in the paper under column titles "Vest Pocket Anthology," "Such Interesting People," and "More Interesting People." During the 1920s and 1930s, Casey traveled through

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four isl ...

and

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, and many other sites, and wrote about his adventures in newspaper columns and books. In 1940, Casey covered the blitz in London and its aftermath; he was also in Hawaii and the Pacific right after the bombing of

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

in December, 1941. After his coverage of

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 ...

in France, Africa, and the Pacific, Casey came back to Chicago to write. He had been married to Marie Driscoll, who died in 1945; in 1946 Casey married

Hazel MacDonald Hazel MacDonald (1890-1971) was a Chicago journalist and foreign correspondent. Born in 1890, she was a pioneer in the field at a time when female newspaper writers were rare. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1913, and wrote for '' Pho ...

, a reporter and fellow Chicago-based foreign correspondent he first met in 1933. After Casey's retirement from the ''Daily News'' in 1947, he continued to write books and freelance newspaper articles. In 1955, he was named Press Veteran of the Year by the Chicago Press Veterans Association. After being under treatment for several years for a heart condition and high blood pressure, Casey died of a stroke on Dec. 5, 1962 in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

at the age of 72.

Works

* ''The Lost Kingdom Of Burgundy'' (1923) * ''The Cannoneers Have Hairy Ears ublished anonymously' (1927) * ''Four Faces Of Siva'' (1929) * ''The Secret Of 37 Hardy Street'' (1929) * ''The Voice Of The Lobster'' (1930) * ''The Secret Of The Bungalow'' (1930) * ''Cambodian Quest'' (1931) * ''Easter Island, Home Of The Scornful Gods'' (1931) * ''News Reel'' (1932) * ''Hot Ice'' (1933) * ''The Third Owl'' (1934) * ''I Can't Forget'' (1941) * ''Torpedo Junction'' (1942) * ''Such Interesting People'' (1943) * ''Battle Below: The War Of The Submarines'' (1945) * ''This Is Where I Came In'' (1945) * ''The Texas Border And Some Borderliners (inc: The Guide)'' (1950) * ''Bob Casey's Grand Slam'' (1962) Source:

References

External links

*
Robert J. Casey Papers
at

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Robert 1890 births 1962 deaths People from Beresford, South Dakota Military personnel from South Dakota Saint Mary's Academy and College alumni American male journalists Journalists from South Dakota Chicago Daily News people 20th-century American journalists