Ernie Pyle

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Ernie Pyle

;When a machine-gun bullet ended the life of Ernie Pyle in

the final days of World War II, Americans spoke of him in the

same breath as they had Franklin Roosevelt. To millions, the

loss of him was as great as the loss of the wartime president.

Since WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle was so famous, his death on

the battlefront came as a shock to people around the world.

Ernest Taylor Pyle was born August 3, 1900 to Will and

Marie Pyle. He was born an only child on the Same Elder farm

just southwest of Dana, Indiana. His father, Will Pyle, was a

tenant farmer because he couldn’t make a steady living from

being a carpenter, which is what he really liked to do. Pyle

described his father, “He never said a great deal to me all his

life, and yet I feel we have been very good friends, he never

gave me much advice or told me to do this or that, or not to.”

Marie Pyle filled the role of family leader. She enjoyed tasks

at hand: raising chickens and produce, caring for her family

and serving the neighbors. Pyle describes her, “She thrived on

action, she would rather milk than sew; rather plow than bake”

(Tobin 6).

Through school Pyle loved to write. During high school he

was reporter, then editor, then editor in chief for his high

school newspaper. When he graduated high school, he too was

caught up in the “patriotic fever” of the nation upon America’s

entry into WWI (Whitman 2). He enlisted in the Naval Reserve

but before he could finish his training an armistice was

declared in Europe. After that he attended the University of

Indiana to study journalism, but left before he graduated.

Ernie Pyle persued his love for writing, and became a cub

reporter for “LaPorte Herald.” For months later he was offered

a $2.50-per-week raise to work for the “Washington Daily News.”

He wrote the countries first daily aviation column for four

years before becoming the papers managing editor. Pyle was a

reporter, copy editor, and aviation editor until 1932, when he

accepted a job for the “Scripps-Howard” newspaper chain. Pyle

loved to travel and persuaded Scripps-Howard executives to

allow him to be a roving reporter. Ernie Pyle was very excited

to be a roving reporter:

It’s better than a million dollars. It’s a new ...

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...ncarta Encyclopedia 2000.

CD-ROM. 2000 ed.

2. “Ernie Pyle State Historic Site.” Indiana State Museum

and Historic Sites. 2 March 2000

3. Tobin, James. Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Eyewitness To

World War II. New York: The Free Press, 1997.

4. Whitman, Mark. “Ernie Pyle.” Access Indiana Teaching and

Learning Center. 1997. 5 March 2000

5 Wilson, Ellen. Ernie Pyle: Boy From Back Home.

Indianapolis

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