Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Ernie Pyle

Role / Field:

American war correspondent famed for human-interest stories of WWII soldiers.

Born:

1900-08-03

Died:

1945-04-18

Century / Era:

1900s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was an 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 columns he wrote as a roving human-interest reporter from 1935 through 1941 for the Scripps-Howard newspaper syndicate that earned him wide acclaim for his simple accounts of ordinary people across North America. When the United States entered World War II, he lent the same distinctive, folksy style of his human-interest stories to his wartime reports from the European theater (1942–44) and Pacific theater (1945). Pyle won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his newspaper accounts of "dogface" infantry soldiers from a first-person perspective.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He was killed by enemy fire on Iejima (then known as Ie Shima) during the Battle of Okinawa. At the time of his death in 1945, Pyle was among the best-known American war correspondents. His syndicated column was published in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers nationwide. President Harry Truman said of Pyle, "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

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• 1900 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1900
• August 3 (08-03) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on August 3
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• April 18 (04-18) On This Day — Historical events and memorials on April 18

Frequently Asked Questions about Ernie Pyle