53 Facts About Ernie Pyle

Ernie Pyle is 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.

Ernie Pyle won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his newspaper accounts of "dogface" infantry soldiers from a first-person perspective.

Ernie Pyle was killed by enemy fire on Iejima during the Battle of Okinawa.

At the time of his death in 1945, Ernie Pyle was among the best-known American war correspondents.

Ernie Pyle's syndicated column was published in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers nationwide.

Ernest "Ernie" Taylor Pyle was born on August 3,1900, on the Sam Elder farm near Dana, Indiana, in rural Vermillion County, Indiana.

Ernie Pyle's parents were Maria and William Clyde Pyle.

At the time of Ernie Pyle's birth his father was a tenant farmer on the Elder property.

Ernie Pyle enrolled at Indiana University in 1919, aspiring to become a journalist.

However, IU did not offer a degree in journalism at that time, so Ernie Pyle majored in economics and took as many journalism courses as he could.

Ernie Pyle began studying journalism in his sophomore year, the same year he joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and began working on the Indiana Daily Student, the student-written newspaper.

Ernie Pyle joined Sigma Delta Chi, the journalism fraternity, and was active in other campus clubs.

Ernie Pyle left school in January 1923 with only a semester remaining and without graduating from IU.

Ernie Pyle took a job as a newspaper reporter for the Daily Herald in La Porte, Indiana, earning $25 a week.

Ernie Pyle worked at the Daily Herald for three months before moving to Washington, DC, to join the staff of The Washington Daily News.

Ernie Pyle met his future wife, Geraldine Elizabeth "Jerry" Siebolds, a native of Minnesota, at a Halloween party in Washington, DC, in 1923.

In June 1940, Ernie Pyle purchased property about 3 miles from downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, and had a modest, 1,145-square-foot home built on the site.

Ernie Pyle often complained of being ill, was a "heavy abuser of alcohol at times," and suffered from bouts of depression, later made worse from the stress of his work as a war correspondent during World War II.

Ernie Pyle's wife suffered from alcoholism and periods of mental illness.

Newspapers reported that Jerry Ernie Pyle "took the news [of her husband's death] bravely", but her health declined rapidly in the months following his death on April 18,1945, while he was covering operations of American troops on Ie Shima.

Jerry Ernie Pyle died from complications of influenza at Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 23,1945.

In 1923, Ernie Pyle moved to Washington, DC, to join the staff as a reporter for the Washington Daily News, a new Scripps-Howard tabloid newspaper, and soon became a copy editor as well.

Ernie Pyle was paid $30 a week for his services, beginning a career with Scripps-Howard that would continue for the remainder of his life.

Ernie Pyle's column appeared in syndication for the Scripps-Howard newspapers from 1928 to 1932.

In 1932, at the age of thirty-one, Ernie Pyle was named managing editor at the Daily News, serving in the position for three years before taking on a new writing assignment.

In December 1934 Ernie Pyle took an extended vacation in the western United States to recuperate from a severe bout of influenza.

In 1935, Ernie 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.

Ernie Pyle's column, published under the title of the "Hoosier Vagabond," appeared six days a week in Scripps-Howard newspapers.

Ernie Pyle continued his daily travel column until 1942, but by that time he was writing about American soldiers serving in World War II.

Ernie 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.

Ernie Pyle 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.

Ernie Pyle was covering the invasion of Okinawa when he was killed in April 1945.

Ernie Pyle volunteered to go to London in December 1940 to cover the Battle of Britain.

Ernie Pyle witnessed the German firebombing of the city and reported on the growing conflict in Europe.

Ernie Pyle joined American troops in North Africa and Europe, and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.

Ernie Pyle wrote that he was especially fond of the infantry "because they are the underdogs".

Ernie Pyle lived among the US servicemen and was free to interview anyone he wanted.

Ernie Pyle interrupted his reporting in September 1943 and in September 1944 to return home to recuperate from the stresses of combat and care for his wife when she was ill.

Ernie Pyle was among the twenty-eight war correspondents chosen to accompany US troops during the initial invasion in June 1944.

Ernie Pyle landed with American troops at Omaha Beach aboard a LST.

In July 1944, Ernie Pyle was nearly caught in the accidental bombing by the US Army Air Forces at the onset of Operation Cobra near Saint-Lo in Normandy.

Ernie Pyle 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 "war neurosis".

An exhausted Ernie Pyle wrote that he hoped that a rest at his home in New Mexico would restore his vigor to go "warhorsing around the Pacific".

Ernie Pyle reluctantly headed for the Pacific theater in January 1945 for what became his final writing assignment.

Ernie Pyle won a partial but unsatisfying victory when the ban was lifted exclusively for him.

Ernie Pyle thought the naval crew had an easier life than the infantry in Europe, and wrote several unflattering portraits of the Navy.

Ernie Pyle conceded that his heart was with the servicemen in Europe, but he persevered.

On more than one occasion, Ernie Pyle was noted for having premonitions of his own death.

Ernie Pyle was buried wearing his helmet, among other battle casualties on Ie Shima, between an infantry private and a combat engineer.

Ernie Pyle was well known and popular among the American military.

In November 1942 Ernie Pyle's columns were distributed to 42 newspapers, but the number had increased to 122 newspapers by April 1943.

In 1943 Ernie Pyle gave interviews on radio programs to help sell war bonds.

Ernie Pyle is described as "the pre-eminent war correspondent of his era," who achieved worldwide fame and readership for his World War II battlefield reports that were published from 1942 to 1945.