Pyle, Ernie

(1900–45)

Journalist

Ernie Pyle was one of the most popular American journalists of World War II. Traveling with U.S. military units to cover their wartime campaigns, Pyle experienced and wrote about the war as the fighting men themselves lived it. Although he was on a firstname basis with many generals, he refused their comforts and preferred life in the infantry unit to life in a general's headquarters. Pyle gained his fame by personalizing the large, anonymous war and making his readers feel as if they understood the soldiers who fought it.

After studying journalism at Indiana University, Pyle went to Washington, D.C., in 1923, where he impressed his bosses with his clear, fluid writing. He traveled around the country during the Great Depression, capturing the desperation and poverty of a nation in crisis. Pyle did not write about the grand questions of politics and economics; rather, he tried to demonstrate how individual Americans dealt with the crisis. He captured their pain, their frustration, and their hopes for a brighter future. He thus personalized a national and international event and at the same time developed the style for which he would become known.

Pyle worked for leading newspapers in New York and Washington, D.C., covering aviation and finally serving as managing editor of the Washington Daily News. Lacking an interest in editing, Pyle returned to reporting in 1934. In November 1940 Pyle accepted an assignment to go to Europe and cover the war during the battle of Britain. In England he developed a deep sympathy with the plight of the British people and helped American readers identify with Britain's wartime struggles.

After three months overseas, Pyle returned to the United States to help care for his wife, Geraldine “Jerry” Pyle, who suffered from severe physical and emotional problems. His marriage ended in a divorce in 1942, although he remained close friends with his former wife. Her suicide attempt and rejection of his offer of remarriage tormented Pyle.

The divorce, and the U.S. entry into the war, led Pyle to request another overseas assignment. His first war columns [Page 684]came from North Africa in November 1942. Forbidden by censorship regulations to report on operations and grand strategy, Pyle reported on the men who made up the American Army and their attitudes toward war. He always identified men by their hometowns, referring, for example, to “a friend of mine, Maj. Ronald Elkins of College Station, Texas” (Nichols, xx). He also talked to men in virtually all military specialties. He carefully listened to the men, asking few questions, taking no notes, and letting them tell him their perspectives on the war.

Pyle did not attempt to gloss over unpleasant details of the war. He noted shortcomings in American policy and warned the American people early on that the war would be long and difficult. He also believed that American soldiers were too arrogant and reliant on their massive stores of weapons and supplies. Early in the war, Pyle understood that to defeat the German Army, American soldiers would have to grow colder and harder, a prospect he regretted. His honesty made him even more respected because his writings stood out so markedly from reporters who parroted optimistic official communiqués. As he became increasingly popular, he also grew increasingly hard to censor. Because he rarely concerned himself with issues above those that concerned the common soldier, he rarely needed access to classified material. The censors thus generally left his material untouched.

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