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August 3, 1900, marked the first day of the life for one of America’s most
beloved journalists. Born on Sam Elder’s farm southwest of Dana, Indiana, Ernest
Taylor “Ernie” Pyle’s endearing way with words became apparent about the same
time as did his lack of interest in farming. This only child of tenant farmers
Maria and Will Pyle was expected to follow in his dad’s footsteps but young
Ernie described all other occupations by saying “anything was better than
looking at the sound end of a horse going north.”
Fortunately for Pyle, a wave of patriotism was sweeping the nation about the
time he graduated from high school, offering him escape from the farm. He
enlisted in the Naval Reserve determined to defend the nation as part of the war
effort. Unfortunately for Pyle, World War I was over by the time he completed
basic training.
After his reserve stint, Pyle studied journalism at the Indiana University in
Bloomington. A job offer in 1923 from the LaPorte (Indiana) Herald lured him
away from college shortly before completing his degree. After just a few months
on this job, the Washington Daily News, the District of Columbia branch of the
Scripps-Howard newspaper conglomerate, offered him a job and a raise. In
Washington, he earned an additional $2.50 each week.
- The Ernie Pyle State Historic Site: This Dana, Indiana,
memorial site provides glimpses into the work and the life of this “WWII
reporting icon.”
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Columns on Display: The wartime columns of Ernie Pyle are showcased at the
Indiana University School of Journalism.
About this time, Geraldine Siebolds, a pretty girl from Minnesota, captured his
heart and Pyle married her on July 25, 1925. Love kept them together but it
didn’t make their jobs more satisfying. By 1926, the newlyweds’ wanderlust led
them to quit their dull jobs for more exciting opportunities. A brief stint as
barnstormers took the young couple over 9,000 miles of America in just ten short
weeks and inspired Pyle to write a daily aviation newspaper column, which he
began when he got his old job back at the Washington Daily News. It was the
first column devoted to the aviation industry to be published in the US.
- Home
in Albuquerque: Pyle and his wife built this house, his last, in Albuquerque
after developing “a deep, unreasoning affection” for life in New Mexico; the
home is a public library today.
- National Historic Landmark Nomination: View the
application that nominates the Ernie Pyle House in Albuquerque for inclusion in
the National Historic Landmark registry.
Before long, Pyle became the newspaper’s managing editor, a post he kept for
three years before taking on the mission of roving columnist for the newspaper
firm. By the end of his first six years in this position, Pyle had traveled
across the US 35 times and had written enough columns to publish his first book,
Home Country.
World War II (WWII) called him away from American soil. His life as a war
correspondent began in 1940 England, where he covered the Battle of
Britain. Bearing first-hand witness to the explosive blitzkrieg Germany launched
against London, Pyle wrote that it was “the most hateful, most beautiful single
scene I have ever known.” His experiences in London and the columns he wrote as
a result were chronicled in his second book, Ernie Pyle in England,
published in 1941.
- "A
Dreadful Masterpiece": On the 58th anniversary of Pyle’s death, Indiana
University’s School of Journalism republished his December 30, 1940, column from
London, titled “A Dreadful Masterpiece.”
The following year found Pyle on location in places as exotic as France, Italy,
Northern Africa, and Sicily, where he reported on US involvement as part of WWII
Allied military operations. So prolific were his journals that two books
materialized from this episode of his life: Brave Men and Here is
Your War.
Pyle’s work during this time was so exhaustive that it covered true-life stories
of every branch of the US military and every rank within each one, from
quartermaster to pilot. His devotion to these men, all the men, was honest and
true but his greatest admiration was reserved for the common foot soldier. Of
these dedicated GIs, Pyle wrote, “I love the infantry because they are the
underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and
they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the
guys that wars can’t be won without.”
While totally sympathetic with the day-to-day challenges these GIs faced on the
front lines, Pyle was absolutely indignant over their financial compensation. So
aggrieved was he by the paltry pay these infantrymen were earning for their
personal sacrifices, Pyle made it the subject of his writing. One such column
from 1944, posted from Italy, even suggested “fight pay” for combat soldiers,
similar to the flight pay airmen earned.
It worked. In May 1944, Congress enacted a new law nicknamed “the Ernie Pyle
bill,” which mandated a 50% pay raise for every soldier serving a tour of combat
duty.
- King, Rumsfeld, and Ernie Pyle: In this transcript of a
2002 Larry King Live television interview, then-Secretary of Defense
Donald H. Rumsfeld describes differences in war correspondence today versus the
way Ernie Pyle worked during World War II.
- Embedded Reporters, Then and Now: Newsman Dan Rather
discusses the differences between being an “embedded” correspondent in today’s
wars to the privileges and military oversight Ernie Pyle and his colleagues
received as wartime reporters in earlier wars.
Pyle’s columns portrayed these everyday heroes as larger-than-life characters
conquering enemies and overcoming adversity in ways that might have almost
romanticized the harsh realities of these soldiers’ lives to his readers back
home. If the American public bought into that illusion, Pyle himself did not. He
was fully aware of the dangers every soldier faced and the dangers he himself
faced simply being there with them to tell their stories. In a private letter
written to a friend, Pyle said he did his best “not to take any foolish chances,
but there’s just no way to play it completely safe and still do your job.”
After four years of life on the battlefield, Pyle grew weary of war games and
longed to return to the States and his beloved Geraldine. Before doing so,
however, he grudgingly agreed to one last assignment on front lines. He was
shipped off to the Pacific Ocean to report on the activities of the Naval and
Marine troops stationed there. His keen sense of a soldier’s dedication was his
justification for deciding to go, writing, “What can a guy do? I know millions
of others who are reluctant too, and they can’t even get home.”
- "Reporting America at War": The PBS television series,
"Reporting America at War," has become an educational tool for teachers of
language arts, journalism, and history. This lesson plan focuses on the works of
Ernie Pyle.
- Pyle
in Uniform: The reporter aboard the USS Cabot.
- Battle of Okinawa: Pyle is seen here enjoying a smoke
break with a Marine patrol during this brutally ferocious, 82-day-long battle.
His Pacific assignment became his last ever. Pyle was killed during the Battle
of Okinawa, with a draft in his pocket of a column he was saving to publish once
the war was over. In it, Pyle wrote of “the unnatural sight of cold dead men
scattered over the hillsides and in the ditches along the high rows of hedge
throughout the world,” a sight he feared he would not soon forget.
Scripps-Howard did not publish that column.
- Pyle’s Last Column: The last, eerily prophetic, column
Pyle wrote was found among his personal effects after his death.
- News of His Death: The New York Times published Pyle’s
obituary and articles related to his death.
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Honored in Death: The National Cemetery Administration includes Pyle in its
list of historical figures buried in Veterans Administration National
Cemeteries.
- Face to Face with Ernie Pyle: In its weekly
Face-to-Face series, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait
Gallery featured Pyle, describing him as “much a war hero as any combat medal
winner.”
- The Story of GI Joe: Burgess Meredith portrayed
Ernie Pyle as the war correspondent travels through Tunisia and Italy with a
fictitious infantry company in this 1945 movie. It earned four Academy Award
nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Robert Mitchum. Pyle himself
provided input in the making of the movie but wrote in one of his last columns
that he didn’t especially like the title. He never saw the movie. He was killed
exactly two months before the film’s premiere showing.
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