Henry Tilton Gorrell (June 8,1911–January 5, 1958) was a war correspondent for the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and

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 ...

. He was the son of Henry Horace Gorrell, an opera singer and voice teacher, and Mercedes Beatrice Leese.

Correspondent

Gorrell was a reporter for the ''

Kansas City Journal-Post The ''Kansas City Journal-Post'' was a newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1854 to 1942. It was the oldest newspaper in the city when it went out of business. It started as a weekly, ''The Kansas City Enterprise,'' on September 23, 1854, a y ...

'' in 1929, before joining United Press in 1930, working with Richard D. McMillan. He was assigned to the Rome bureau in the mid 1930s, but was expelled from the country in 1936 due to his reporting. Gorrell was part of the United Press staff in Madrid during the

, where he was acquainted with

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

. In 1936, he was captured by an "Italian tank crew and deported, by way of several jails" to France. Gorrell was the chief reporter with American troops for United Press as the United States entered the war. For his actions during an air mission in 1942, he became the first correspondent to be decorated in the Middle East during World War II and only the second correspondent to be decorated during the entire war. He was awarded the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

for gallantry by order of President

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

. He also filed the first report on the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

in 1944. On August 26, 1944, he was among the first, along with

Ernie Pyle Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II. Pyle is also notable for the ...

, to enter the city after the

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 ...

. Gorrell followed the British army to North Africa and Palestine and finally he covered a very obscure aspect of

, the revolt of Iraq. In his memoir, he mentions some personal statements of some local British commanders who accepted that their stronghold in Habaniya was surrounded by thousands of armed Arabs aided by some German planes without a hope to stand. Another curious detail is that Iran also was threatened in a similar way but was occupied by Russian and British forces obviously in full co-operation. Henry Gorrell was there reporting in detail for the United Press. After the war, he left United Press to establish and edit the ''Veterans' Report'' from 1946 until his death. Gorrell's memoir, ''Soldier of the press: covering the front in Europe and North Africa (1936-1943)'', was published posthumously by Kenneth Gorrell in 2009. The memoir covers Gorrell's experiences on the battlefields of the Spanish Civil War and the war fronts in Greece, the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa in World War II.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorrell, Henry Tilton 1911 births 1958 deaths American war correspondents of World War II War correspondents of the Spanish Civil War