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Remembering the war correspondent . . . “In their eyes as they pass is not hatred, not excitement, not despair, not the tonic of their victory—there is just the simple expression of being here as though they had been here doing this forever, and nothing else. . . .
“But to the fighting soldier that phase of the war is behind. It was left behind after his first battle. His blood is up. He is fighting for his life, and killing now for him is as much a profession as writing is for me. . . .
“All the rest of us—you and me and even the thousands of soldiers behind the lines in Africa—we want terribly yet only academically for the war to get over.”
—Dispatches from Ernie Pyle (1900-1945), World War II correspondent.
COMMAND POST, IE SHIMA, April 18, 1945 (AP) — Ernie Pyle, war correspondent beloved by his co-workers, GIs and generals alike, was killed by a Japanese machine-gun bullet through his left temple this morning ..."This AP photo surfaced in February 2008. “It’s a striking and painful image, but Ernie Pyle wanted people to see and understand the sacrifices that soldiers had to make, so it’s fitting, in a way, that this photo of his own death ... drives home the reality and the finality of that sacrifice.”—James E. Tobin, professor, Miami University of Ohio. (Richard Strasser/AP Photo)
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