Editing Ernie Pyle (section)

==Career==
===Staff reporter and aviation columnist===
In 1923, Pyle moved to Washington, D.C., to join the staff as a reporter for the ''[[The Washington Daily News|Washington Daily News]]'', a new Scripps-Howard [[tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] newspaper, and soon became a copy editor as well.<ref name=GS279/> Pyle was paid $30 a week for his services, beginning a career with Scripps-Howard that would continue for the remainder of his life. When Pyle joined the ''Daily News'' all the editors were young, including editor-in-chief John M. Gleissner, Lee G. Miller (who became a lifelong friend of Pyle)<ref name=Albright10/><ref>Miller later became Pyle's biographer and the author of ''An Ernie Pyle Album – Indiana to Ie Shima'' (1946). See {{cite journal| author=Owen V. Johnson and Holly Hays| title =Wrestling with Fame: Ernie Pyle and the Pulitzer Prize | journal =Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History | volume =28 | issue =2 | pages =47 | publisher =Indiana Historical Society | location =Indianapolis | date =Spring 2016}}</ref>
Charles M. Egan, Willis "June" Thornton Jr., and Paul McCrea.<ref>Miller (1946), pages 16–17.</ref>

By 1926, Pyle and his wife, Geraldine "Jerry", had quit their jobs. In ten weeks the couple traveled more than 9,000 miles across the United States in a [[Ford Model T]] [[Roadster (automobile)|roadster]].<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', page 31.</ref><ref name=Price>{{cite book | author= Nelson Price | title =Indiana Legends: Famous Hoosiers from Johnny Appleseed to David Letterman | publisher =Guild Press of Indiana | year =1997 | location =Carmel, Indiana | page=263 | isbn =1578600065}}</ref> After briefly working in New York City for the ''[[The Evening World|Evening World]]'' and the ''[[New York Post]]'', Pyle returned to the ''Daily News'' in December 1927 to begin work on one of the country's first and its best-known [[aviation]] column, which he wrote for four years. Pyle's column appeared in syndication for the Scripps-Howard newspapers from 1928 to 1932. Although he never became an [[aircraft pilot]], Pyle flew about {{convert|100000|mi|km}} as a passenger.<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pages 32, 34.</ref><ref name=JohnsonHays47>Johnson and Hays, page 47.</ref> As [[Amelia Earhart]] later said, "Any aviator who didn't know Pyle was a nobody."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://journalism.indiana.edu/archive/news/041505pyle/ |title=Ernie Pyle: 60 years after his death |author=Owen V. Johnson |publisher=Indiana University School of Journalism |date=April 15, 2005 |access-date=June 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042800/http://journalism.indiana.edu/archive/news/041505pyle/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Human-interest and columnist===
In 1932, at the age of thirty-one, Pyle was named managing editor at the ''Daily News'', serving in the position for three years before taking on a new writing assignment.<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pages 33–34.</ref><ref name=JohnsonHays47/> In December 1934 Pyle took an extended vacation in the [[western United States]] to recuperate from a severe bout of influenza. Upon his return to Washington, D.C., and while he filled in for the paper's vacationing [[Columnist#Newspaper and magazine|syndicated columnist]] [[Heywood Broun]], Pyle wrote a series of eleven articles about his trip and the people he had met. The series proved popular with both readers and colleagues. G.B. ("Deac") Parker, editor-in-chief of the [[Scripps-Howard]] newspaper chain, said he had found in Pyle's vacation articles "a sort of [[Mark Twain]] quality and they knocked my eyes right out".<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pages 38–39.</ref>

In 1935, Pyle left his position as managing editor at the ''Daily News'' to write his own national column as a roving reporter of human-interest stories for the Scripps-Howard newspaper syndicate.<ref name=Price/> Over the next six years, from 1935 until early 1942, Pyle and his wife, Jerry, whom Pyle identified in his columns as "That Girl who rides with me," traveled the United States, Canada, and [[Mexico]], as well as Central and South America, writing about the interesting places he saw and people he met. Pyle's column, published under the title of the "Hoosier Vagabond," appeared six days a week in Scripps-Howard newspapers. The articles became popular with readers, earning Pyle national recognition in the years preceding his even bigger fame as a war correspondent during World War II.<ref name=McMurray/><ref name=BoomhowerTraces2-3>{{cite journal| author= Ray E. Boomhower| title =The Hoosier Vagabond | journal =Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History | volume =28 | issue =2 | pages =2–3 | publisher =Indiana Historical Society | location =Indianapolis | date =Spring 2016}}</ref> Selected columns of Pyle's human interest stories were later compiled in ''[[Home Country (book)|Home Country]]'' (1947),
published posthumously.<ref name=BoomhowerTraces30-31/>

Despite his growing popularity, Pyle lacked confidence and was perpetually dissatisfied with his writing; however, he was pleased when others recognized the quality of his work. Pyle's aviation and travel reports laid the groundwork for his life as a [[war correspondent]]. Pyle continued his daily travel column until 1942, but by that time he was also writing about American soldiers serving in [[World War II]].<ref name=JohnsonHays47/><ref name=McMurray/>

===World War II correspondent===
[[File:Ernie Pyle at Anzio with the 191st Tank Battalion, US Army.jpg|thumb|Pyle with a crew from the US Army's 191st Tank Battalion at the Anzio beachhead in 1944]]

Pyle initially went to [[London]] in 1940 to cover the [[Battle of Britain]], but returned to Europe in 1942 as a war correspondent for Scripps-Howard newspapers. Beginning in North Africa in late 1942, Pyle spent time with the U.S. military during the [[North African Campaign]], the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]], and the [[Invasion of Normandy|Normandy landings]]. He returned to the United States in September 1944, spending several weeks recuperating from combat stress before reluctantly agreeing to travel to the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater]] in January 1945. Pyle was covering the [[invasion of Okinawa]] when he was killed in April 1945.

====European theater====
[[File:Ernie Pyle - US Army photo at Anzio, 1944. Photo Credit - USAMHI.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pyle at Anzio, Italy, 1944]]
Pyle volunteered to go to London in December 1940 to cover the Battle of Britain. He witnessed the [[Germany|German]] firebombing of the city and reported on the growing conflict in [[Europe]]. His recollections of his experiences from this period were published in his book, ''Ernie Pyle in England'' (1941).<ref name=BoomhowerTraces30-31/><ref name=Brockman47>Brockman, page 47.</ref> After returning to the United States in March 1941 and taking a three-month leave of absence from work to care for his wife, Pyle made a second trip to [[Great Britain]] in June 1942, when he accepted an assignment to become a [[war correspondent]] for Scripps-Howard newspapers. Pyle's wartime columns usually described the war from the common man's perspective as he rotated among the various branches of the U.S. military and reported from the front lines. Pyle joined American troops in North Africa and Europe (1942–44), and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater (1945).<ref name=Price/><ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pages 55–59 and 63.</ref> Collections of Pyle's newspaper columns from the campaigns he covered in the [[European theatre of World War II|European theater]] are included in ''Here is Your War'' (1943) and ''Brave Men'' (1944).<ref name=BoomhowerTraces30-31/><ref name=Brockman47/>

In his reports of the [[North African Campaign]] in late 1942 and early 1943,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pyle |first=Ernie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aypb4g_8uZkC |title=Here Is Your War |date=April 2005 |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-57912-441-0 |language=en}}</ref> Pyle told stories of his early wartime experiences, which made interesting reading for Americans in the United States.<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', page 64.</ref> Through his work, Pyle became friends of the enlisted men and officers, as well as those in leadership roles such as Generals [[Omar Bradley]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref name=Price/><ref name=GS280>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., page 280.</ref> Pyle wrote that he was especially fond of the infantry "because they are the underdogs".<ref name=BoomhowerTraces30-31/>

Pyle lived among the U.S. servicemen and was free to interview anyone he wanted. As a noncombatant Pyle could also leave the front when he wanted. He interrupted his reporting in September 1943 and in September 1944 to return home to recuperate from the stresses of combat<ref>Johnson and Hays, pages 49 and 53.</ref><ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', page 65.</ref> and care for his wife when she was ill.<ref>Tobin, pages 60–61, 123–24, 159–61, and 219–220.</ref>

Reinforcing his status as the [[Dogface (military)|dogface]] G.I.'s best friend, Pyle wrote a column from [[Italy]] in 1944 proposing that soldiers in combat should get "fight pay," just as airmen received "[[United States military pay#Special Pay|flight pay]]". In May 1944 the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] passed a law that became known as the Ernie Pyle bill. It authorized 50 percent extra pay for combat service.<ref name=BoomhowerTraces30-31/> Pyle's most famous column, "The Death of [[Henry T. Waskow|Captain Waskow]]," written in Italy in December 1943, was published on January 10, 1944, when Allied forces were fighting at the [[Anzio]] beachhead in Italy.<ref name=GS280/> The notable story also marked the peak of Pyle's writing career.<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', page 78.</ref>

After the [[North African Campaign|North African]] and [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian campaigns]], Pyle left Italy in April 1944, relocating to England to cover preparations for the Allied landing at [[Invasion of Normandy|Normandy]]. Pyle was among the twenty-eight war correspondents chosen to accompany U.S. troops during the initial invasion in June 1944. He landed with American troops at [[Omaha Beach]] aboard a [[Landing Ship, Tank|LST]].<ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', pages 81–83.</ref> On [[D-Day]] Pyle wrote:
<blockquote>The best way I can describe this vast armada and the frantic urgency of the traffic is to suggest that you visualize New York city on its busiest day of the year and then just enlarge that scene until it takes in all the ocean the human eye can reach clear around the horizon and over the horizon. There are dozens of times that many.<ref>On preparations to invade at Normandy, see: {{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/thewar/|title=THE WAR |publisher=PBS}}</ref></blockquote>

In July 1944, Pyle was nearly caught in the accidental bombing by the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]] at the onset of [[Operation Cobra]] near [[Saint-Lô]] in Normandy.<ref>Tobin, pages 195–96.</ref> A month after witnessing the [[liberation of Paris]] in August 1944,<ref>{{cite book |author=Nicholas Rankin|title=Ian Fleming's Commandos: The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII | publisher =Faber 
|year=2011 | location =London | isbn = 9780571250639}}</ref> Pyle publicly apologized to his readers in a column on September 5, 1944, stating that "my spirit is wobbly and my mind is confused" and he said that if he "heard one more shot or saw one more dead man, I would go off my nut".<ref name=lifepyle>{{cite magazine|date=2 April 1945 |author=Lincoln Barnett|title=Ernie Pyle | magazine=Life | page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1EkEAAAAMBAJ&q=nauseated}}</ref> He later said he had "lost track of the point of the war" and that another two weeks of coverage would have seen him hospitalized with "[[Posttraumatic stress disorder|war neurosis]]".<ref name=lifepyle/> An exhausted Pyle wrote that he hoped that a rest at his home in [[New Mexico]] would restore his vigor to go "warhorsing around the Pacific".<ref>Tobin, pages 201.</ref>

====Pacific theater====
[[File:Ernie Pyle on Okinawa.png|thumb|upright|Pyle shares a cigarette with Marines on Okinawa]]

Pyle reluctantly headed for the Pacific theater in January 1945 for what became his final writing assignment.<ref name=GS280/> While covering the [[U.S. Navy]] and [[U.S. Marine Corps|Marine]] forces in the Pacific, Pyle challenged the Navy's policy forbidding the use of the names of sailors in reporting the war. He won a partial but unsatisfying victory when the ban was lifted exclusively for him.<ref name="Tobin, p. 234">Tobin, page 234.</ref> Pyle travelled on board the aircraft carrier {{USS|Cabot|CVL-28|6}}. He thought the naval crew had an easier life than the infantry in Europe, and wrote several unflattering portraits of the Navy.<ref>Tobin, pages 228, 231, and 233–34.</ref> In response, fellow correspondents, newspaper editorialists and G.I.s criticized Pyle (who was a former member of the [[United States Navy Reserve|U.S. Naval Reserve]]) for his negative coverage of the Navy in his columns and for underestimating the difficulties of naval warfare in the Pacific. Pyle conceded that his heart was with the servicemen in Europe,<ref>Tobin, pages 234 and 236.</ref> but he persevered. After traveling to [[Guam]] and resuming his writing, Pyle went on to report on naval action during the [[Battle of Okinawa]], the largest [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious assault]] in the [[Pacific War|Pacific theater]] during World War II.<ref>{{cite web| author=Laura Lacey| title =Battle of Okinawa |publisher=Militaryhistoryonline.com |url=http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/okinawa/default.aspx | access-date =January 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031340/http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/okinawa/default.aspx|archive-date=16 December 2018}} See also: {{cite web |url= https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm |title=Battle of Okinawa: Summary, Fact, Pictures and Casualties |publisher=Historynet.com |date=June 12, 2006 |access-date=January 19, 2012}}</ref><ref>Boomhower, ''The Soldier's Friend'', page 98.</ref>