Ernest Pyle World War II Reporter

Ernest Pyle started his reporting in the 1930’s and, was one of the first reporters of World War II. He wrote articles all the way to his untimely death on the small island that the seventy-seventh army division was attempting to recover. He was known to the public as the G.I’s best friend. This was due to his ability to start to talk to people and get them to open up to him in ways no other reporter could.

He came from slim beginnings to being known nationwide. At this time reporters on the front lines were really the only way to get information on the war. If one of the reporters could not obtain the information, they would have no idea on what happened at that certain battle. Only very few of them had such an effect on the soldiers and could get all of the important information from them. When he was killed at the time he had a column that was run in multiple newspapers.

People far and wide knew who he was. Many did not know of his personal struggles that he and his wife went through.But many knew that without this war correspondent most of the soldiers involved in this war would be forgotten if he had not mentioned them in his articles. He knew who the real heroes in the war were. He gave credit to the people who put their lives in danger everyday to protect our freedoms. Ernest Pyle was one of the most influential correspondents at the time. Ernest Taylor Pyle was born on August 3, 1900 in the small town of Dana, Indiana. His mother, Maria Pyle, was one of the major influences in his life. She was the role model of emotion for Ernie. His father, William Pyle, was a second generation farmer. They were immigrants from scotland. Ernie’s father was a jack of all trades. He was a carpenter and a mechanic. He liked to rent out a couple of his acres to people. Will put Ernie to work at age 9.

From behind the plow William had eradicate any feeling to continue the family tradition to farm for Ernie. After graduating from the local high school, he enrolled to school in Indiana University. There he worked at the Washington Daily. He made an salary of thirty dollars a week, which was a solid amount of money for that time.His life changed when he met Geraldine Siebolds. Ernie and Geraldine hit it off. Throughout time, they realized how much they had in common. The two secretly married in the summer of 1925. They hid the marriage from their friends and family. While working for the Washington Daily, he greatly honed his techniques of interviewing people. For three years he was promoted to the editor of the Washington Daily newspaper. He hated being confined to a desk job. The newspaper did not want to lose one of the best workers that they had. They agreed with him and allowed Ernie to write an aviation column.Something relatively new at the time. Ernie wanted to run a column how he wanted it to be.

The Washington Daily gave him the freedom to do as he wished. Other papers also ran his column in their paper. He was becoming a successful and well known reporter. Ernest Ple even won the coveted Pulitzer award for journalism. On Ernie’s thirty-fifth birthday, Geraldine and hisself decided to go on a trip to Washington. Pyle went to every state of the union and crossed the continent. For one man this was a major accomplishment. Each time he crossed the continent he would bring along certain items. He would bring along paper cards with names and information for ideas for future stories. He wrote articles with great consistency. Every one of his articles had one thousand words apiece. All of his articles have the same structure of wording. His articles were read nationwide. During the time that saw the greatest rise of documenting the war, Ernest Pyle rose to the top of the ranks of reporters.At 1939 almost everyone in the united states was trying to ignore that there was a war going on overseas.

Finally, in 1940 the war could not be ignored by the United States and was forced to enter in the war. By this time, Ernie Pyle was overseas reporting for the war. He reported the war in Africa, Latin America, Italy, and Normandy. Everything was starting to look up for Ernie. While he was looking good on the outside, he was struggling on his personal life. Ernest and Geraldine Pyle had both had a history of alcohol and drug abuse. They both had moments where they were clean from drugs and alcohol, and when they were struggling.Many people believed that he had it made, but in reality, he was having a hard time. Ernie’s and Geraldine’s marriage struggled, but they had made it through. Both of them had made a victory in defeating their alcohol and drug abuse. Both ,Ernest and Geraldine had finally got got clean from drugs and alcohol. America’s greatest reporter at the time was struggling through one of the hardest times of his life. All of the times he saw the bloodiest conflicts, had caught up to him.

When Ernest Pyle went back overseas, he was finally clean, it was perhaps the last time that Pyle would be coming back home again alive. Pyle was with the seventy-seven army division, on April 18,1945,when machine gun fire from a japanese aircraft, took his life on the island of Le Shima, just west of Okinawa at the age of 43. Pyles death was a great loss to the soldiers. They felt as if they had lost one of their own buddies.Geraldine and the american people had felt the loss as well. One of america’s greatest reporters was killed. The man who was with Ernie when he was killed reported the death immediately. Pyle had been struck in the left temple with a thirty caliber bullet. The impact of the bullet killed him instantly. The soldiers who were around at the time were feeling the loss of the man who had made the men know that they were not forgotten. Ernest Pyles death was barely a week after the death of former president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Ernest Pyle was not forgotten for his bravery. There was a museum dedicated to Pyle in his hometown of Dana, Indianapolis. The museum had some of Pyles personal belongings. Such as his portable typewriter and his zippo lighter. When the museum was costing more money to keep open than it was bringing in, the board of the museum decided to spread the items along to other museums. They have moved some of the items to the Indianapolis State Museum. Ernest Pye had changed the way that we see the war reporters today. One man changed the minds of oer a million people through writing articles. He showed us the real heroes of the war. Not the Generals or the Colonels. The privates, corporals, and the sergeants. The men who were giving everything that they had to defend us and our liberties. He just wasn’t one of the greatest reporters of his time, He was one of the greatest reporters in all of history.

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