Ernie Pyle: The Great Chronicler of GIs in WWII

May 29, 2023 MEMORIAL DAY

A perfect day to salute the memory of Ernie Pyle, born in Dana, Ind., Aug. 3, 1900 - Died on the island of Shima in the Philippine Sea,  April 18, 1945

Nominally the best reporter to capture the unglorified daily life of GIs in WW II, 1940-1945.

The term “embedded” had not even been invented when Pyle followed troops in combat, ate what they ate, ducked into foxholes with them when bullets and mortar shells landed. Pyle had the gift of memory so lucid that he wrote his columns when he could get his hands on his typewriter after exchanges with enemy troops and document how soldiers faced danger or looked forward the occasional letter from home.

He asked for no protection or special status and was respected by the men with whom he served. He died on April 18, 1945 when he popped up in a bunker to see the terrain and was killed immediately when struck in the head by a sniper’s bullet.

One of Pyle’s most simply eloquent stories was "The Death of Captain Waskow".

Ernie Pyle wrote of Captain Waskow: "In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas". It's a strange word to use, but I've never read a more endearing story about the humanity of men at war.

^{Like a sketch artist, Pyle's ability to capture detail that personifies his subject is fully charged in his story about the death of Henry T. Waskow.}

Below: "Killing Is All That Matters." Pyle's observation describing how soldiers spend their time before being ordered into combat, an experience that will change them forever, December 1, 1941, is stunning in its contrasts.

https://erniepyle.iu.edu/wartime-columns/killing-is-all-that-matters.html

A collection of Pyle's columns about war and the men waging it ..so few words, every word in service to the moment.

https://erniepyle.iu.edu/wartime-columns/index.html

Long form journalism about what Ernie Pyle saw on the Normandy beach on D-Day was published so Americans could read about the carnage and pay respects to the dead by buying war bonds to pay for the war. If read only one link, read this one from the New York Times. Ernie would have loved it. (NOTE you will be able to read as a guest or logon if a subscriber)

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0803.html

New York Times fully dimensional obituary for Ernie Pyle, April 19, 1945

Further reading

The Man Who Told America the Truth About D-Day

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/magazine/d-day-normandy-75th-ernie-pyle.html

Last and not least...Ernie Pyle up close and personal with tender observations about "that girl," his wife: https://erniepyle.iu.edu/wartime-columns/personal-items.html

Within a paragraph or two, the  man has a knack for roping us in to a story whether in a war zone or his home town,

 

 

 

Comments

[Carolyn Liesy]

I read The Death of Captain Waskow. Very moving. Thanks for sharing Ernie Pyle.
I knew his name but had not read anything he had written.
My best to you,
Carolyn

[Paul A Tamburello, Jr aka pt at large]

I found this a few minutes ago...not the fog of war but the fatigue of war experienced by the 'goddam infantry', for lack of a better word, a term of admiration Pyle used to describe the infantrymen who've been on the march for 4 days.

https://erniepyle.iu.edu/wartime-columns/gd-infantry.html

[Paul A Tamburello, Jr aka pt at large]

Thank you, Carolyn, within a few hundred words pounded out on his rickety typewriter, Pyle captures moments with prose the equivalent of poetry.

[Bill Pignato]

Hi Paul

Thanks for passing on. My father had shared with me a story that Ernie Pyle was on the ship that he was on in WWII. He told me he had a pile of Boston Globe’s his mother apparently sent him. Ernie Pyle saw them and asked he could read them. I think he gave them back to my Dad.