Ernie Pyle

Ernie Pyle on board the USS Cabot

Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3 1900 – April 18 1945) was an American journalist who wrote as a roving correspondent for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain from 1935 until his death in combat during World War II. His articles, about the out-of-the-way places he visited and the people who lived there, were written in a folksy style much like a personal letter to a friend. He enjoyed a loyal following in as many as 300 newspapers.

Early life and World War I

Pyle was born on a tenant farm near Dana, Indiana. When he was almost 18 years old, he briefly joined the United States Navy. World War I ended soon after, so Pyle only served for three months.

After the First World War, Pyle attended Indiana University, traveled to the Orient with fraternity brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and edited the student newspaper—but he did not graduate. He wrote briefly for local newspapers in Indiana before moving to Washington, D.C. An experimental tabloid newspaper, the Washington Daily News, was founded in 1921, and Pyle began as a reporter there in 1923. All of the editors were young, including Editor-in-Chief John M. Gleissner (one of Warren G. Harding's drinking buddies), Lee G. Miller (author of An Ernie Pyle Album - Indiana to Ie Jima), Charles M. Egan, Willis "June" Thornton, and Paul McCrea. Pyle was named managing editor of the Washington Daily News, and served in that post for three years, all the while fretting that he was unable to do any writing. In 1926, Pyle tired of work at a desk in the news room, quit his job, and headed out on the road to see America with his new wife in a Ford roadster.

The opportunity to return to writing came after he spent time on a leisurely trip to California to recuperate from a severe bout of influenza. Upon his return, it was suggested that he write some columns about his trip to fill in for the vacationing syndicated columnist Heywood Broun. The series of 11 columns was a hit. G.B. ("Deac") Parker, editor in chief of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, said he had found in Pyle's vacation articles "a Mark Twain quality that knocked my eye out". Pyle was relieved of his duties as a managing editor and began writing a national column for the Scripps-Howard Alliance group. He wandered around the country and the Americas in his car, writing columns about the unusual places and people he met in his ramblings. Select columns were later compiled and published in Home Country. Nevertheless, Pyle suffered from fits of deep depression, never satisfied with the quality of his writing. In 1928 he became the country's first aviation columnist, a role in which he continued for four years.

While he was in Washington he met Jerry (Geraldine Siebolds), his "fearful and troubled wife", with whom he carried on a tempestuous relationship. They were married in 1925. Jerry suffered from intermittent bouts of mental illness and alcoholism. Pyle described her as "desperate within herself since the day she was born". In a letter to his college roommate Paige Cavanaugh after his return for a vacation during his war correspondent days, he said "Geraldine was drunk the afternoon I got home. From there she went on down. Went completely screwball. One night she tried the gas. Had to have a doctor." The two were divorced shortly after.

World War II

Ernie Pyle shortly after his death

Ernie Pyle Memorial, Ie-shima Island, Okinawa, Japan

Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, Pyle became a war correspondent, applying his intimate style to the war. Instead of the movements of armies or the activities of generals, Pyle generally wrote from the perspective of the common soldier, an approach that won him not only further popularity but also the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. His wartime writings are preserved in three books: Brave Men, Here is Your War, and Ernie Pyle in England.

In 1944, he wrote a column urging that soldiers in combat get "fight pay" just as airmen were paid "flight pay". Congress passed a law giving soldiers 50 percent extra pay for combat service. The legislation was called "the Ernie Pyle bill."

He reported from the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. On April 18 1945 Pyle died on Ie Shima, an island off Okinawa Honto, as the result of machine gun fire from an enemy machine gun nest. He had set out in a jeep with Lieutenant Colonel Joseph B. Coolidge, commanding officer of the 305th, as well as three other men. The road, which paralleled the beach two or three hundred yards inland, had been cleared of mines, and hundreds of vehicles had driven over it. As the vehicle reached a road junction, a machine gun position firing from a coral ridge about a third of a mile away opened up. The men stopped their vehicle and dived into the ditch. Pyle and Coolidge raised their heads to look around for the others, and when they spotted them, Pyle smiled and asked Coolidge "Are you all right?" Those were his last words. The machine gunner opened up again, and Pyle was struck in the left temple. The colonel called for a medic, but there were none present; regardless, Pyle had been killed instantly. He was buried with his helmet on, and laid to rest in a long row of graves among other soldiers, an infantry private on one side, an engineer on the other. At the 10 minute service, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army were represented. He was later reburied at the Army cemetery on Okinawa, then moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific located in Honolulu. When Okinawa was returned to the Japanese the Ernie Pyle Memorial was one of three American memorials they allowed to remain in place.

Honors, archives, and burial

Pyle's legacy is preserved at Indiana University, where he began his journalism training. The School of Journalism is housed in "Ernie Pyle Hall," and scholarships, established soon after his death, are still given to students who have ability in journalism, the promise of future success in the profession, and a military service record. A major initial contribution to the scholarships came from the proceeds of the world premiere of the film, The Story of G.I. Joe, which starred Burgess Meredith as Pyle.

Gravesite of Ernie Pyle

In 1947, his last home in Albuquerque, New Mexico was made into the first branch library of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System, named in honor of its famous occupant. Today, the Ernie Pyle Library houses a small collection of adult and children's books, as well as Pyle memorabilia and archives. The bulk of his archives, however, are at the Lilly Library at Indiana University; the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site at Dana, Indiana; and the Wisconsin State Historical Society. The Ernie Pyle State Historic Site in Dana, Indiana has Pyle's boyhood home, fully restored. The site also has a Quonset hut with many WWII Pyle artifacts contributed by people in this community where Pyle grew up.

Laid to rest between two unknown soldiers, Pyle is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

In 2008, 63 years after his death, a photo of Pyle after his death surfaced.

References

• James Tobin. Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II. Hardcover: Free Press (1997), ISBN 0-684-83642-4; Paperback: University Press of Kansas (1998), ISBN 0-7006-0897-4

External links

• The Wartime Columns of Ernie Pyle. Indiana University School of Journalism.
• The War Correspondent. The Ernie Pyle Center, Fort Totten NY.
• Ernie Pyle House/Library, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Ernie Pyle at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2008-01-24
• His obituary, New York Times