Title

Ernie Pyle's war : America's eyewitness to World War II

Description

When a machine-gun bullet ended the life of war correspondent Ernie Pyle in the final days of World War II, Americans mourned him in the same breath as they mourned Franklin Roosevelt. To millions, the loss of this American folk hero seemed nearly and great as the loss of the wartime president. If the hidden horrors and valor of combat persist at all in the public mind, it is because of those writers who watched it and recorded it in the faith that war is too important to be confined to the private memories of the warriors. Above all these writers, Ernie Pyle towered as a giant. Through his words ad his compassion, Americans everywhere gleaned their understanding of what they came to call "The Good War." Pyle walked a troubled path to fame. Though insecure and anxious, he created a carefree and kindly public image in his popular prewar column - all the while struggling with inner demons and a tortured marriage. War, in fact, offered. Pyle an escape hatch from his own personal hell. It also offered him a subject precisely suited to his talent - a shrewd understanding of human nature, an unmatched eye for detail, a profound capacity to identify with the suffering soldiers whom he adopted as his own, and a plain yet poetic style reminiscent of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. These he brought to bear on the Battle of Britain and all the great American campaigns of the war - North Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day, and Normandy, the liberation of Paris, and finally Okinawa, where he felt compelled to go because of his enormous public stature despite premonitions of death.

Identifier

886843

684836424

Creator

Tobin, James

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1997

Program air date: August 10, 1997

Publisher

Free Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpapers: Patton's name never appeared in a Pyle column. Here is your war. John Steinbeck p 114. Lee Miller. Pyle- d. April 18, 1945 I.E. Shima. 1. Will Pyle; 2. Maria Taylor Pyle; 3. May Taylor--M and older sister. I.U.--one semester short of a degree. Washington Daily News. Married Jerry 1925-Aviation beat-column 4 happiest year of his life. Would Ernie be respected today if he covered Vietnam or Persian Gulf War the same. His Drinking. How many times did he come close to death? Impact of censors--morose and drunk p 112 (Battle fatigue). Time mag p 189. George Biddle's characterizations p 101. Captain Washow p 134. Tobin's philosophy p 139 of WWII corres. Notes on front fly sheet: Jerry--wife pregnant-abortion, troubled. Column-2 1/2 million words 1935-1942. Road trip across America 1935 800 hotels. Always tired-drinking/stress, anxiety. Drunkenness common state. Jerry--self-loathing/alcoholism, suicidal despair-amphetamines. 1938--entered a sanitarium. Bought a plane in New Mexico. Dec 9, 1940--stepped on British soil. Dec. 29, 1940--German attacks-most beautiful sight I'd ever seen (p 55). Sept to Dec 1941--leave of absence for Jerry. Treatment for impotence. Divorced April 14, 1942. Moran Livingstone. Walter Lippmann, Westerbrook Pegler, Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson. [Verso]: Nov 8, 1942--Morocco and Algeria Ernie landed. His first report of combat deaths p 73. Underlinings/Notes: Underlinings: Description, legacy, impact, family, education, career, style, wander lust, other reporters, rapport, health, relationship with Jerry, soldiers. Notes: "FDR died 6 days earlier," "never before released after VE day," "harsh mistress," "flat black depression," "melancholy," "only child Ernest," "father was 'little man'," Chicago," "Indy 500," "Win the 500," "longed for Army 1917," "Naval Reserve," "I.U, 1919," "Tomb of Unknown Soldier," "no degree," "on to D.C.," "met Jerry," "wedding 1925," "Aviation column 1928," "'poor devil' style," "happiest style," "marriage 'a model'," "1932 news managing editor," "wife troubled, abortion," "trip across America," "a six day a week column is born," "2 1/2 mil. words," "Scripps 24 outlets," "Mark Twain, Ring Lardner," "leper colony," "on the road," "800 hotels," "drinking, anxiety, fatigue," "drunkenness, depression," "he was 37," "syndication," "1939 Florida," "Uncle Clarence," "physical aches, mental depression," "Jerry's emotional oblivion," "a lot in New Mex.," "Dec 9, 1940 English soil," "London," "Dec. 29, 1940 Germany attacks," "Bombing London," "Murrow and Pyle solidarity," "starts to build a following," "Roy Howard," "mother dies," "a book," "Jerry child, suicide," "close to death," "trip to Far East," "lethargy, fatalism," "Moran and Ernie," "impotence," "1942 lowest of his life," "Divorce," "April 14, divorced," "the Army," "Ireland & England," "Solitaire," "no draft yet," "Jerry's atheism," "Operation Torch," "1st story North Africa," "Ernie's two columns," "Remarry Jerry/" "Tripoli," "dead pilot," "Pyle's 1st report," "return of the Fortress," "the column a harbinger," "Pyle in Tunisia," "censors protected generals," "danger," "great newspaper copy," "married again," "1942-column/42 newspapers; 1943 65," "1st time with infantry in combat," "letters," "George Biddle artist," "morose and drunk," "Steinbeck," "Lester Cowan," "Arthur Miller," "Miller v. Pyle different motive," "Jerry," "Dedication," "Ernie's overture toward Moran, impotence overcome," "Mrs. Roosevelt," "Capt Waskow," "voice cast," "deeper theme," "influence, threat of censorship," "Frank Eversole," "Eversole left company for a rest," "deaths have me on the ropes," "Anzio bombing in Villa," "room collapses," "April 1944 London," "1944 Pulitzer Prize," "A.J. Liebling didn't like Pyle," "electro shock treatments," "on to D-Day," "D-Day very little news," "Ernie ay Omaha," "account of Omaha B.," "The Bible," "patriotic," "he aided the war effort," "difficulty sleeping," "cognac to sleep," "9 days with the Ninth," "hedgerow," "Pyle and Time mag," "Time mag utter fantasy," "insulted," "Lester Cowan's script for movie," "Operation COBRA St-Lo," "why humans like war," "smoke line moved over Pyle's head," "111 men died; Americans from American bombs," "Ernie collapse, bombing," "Private Tommy Clayton 37 days," "Paris, uncensored broadcast," "greatest moment of the war," "a whorehouse," "war memories," "the seer," "noble soul," "the common man," "Jo Davidson," "radio," "Westinghouse," "Ernie's speaking voice," "turned offer down," 'Burgess Meredith," "Harry Hopkins," "Miller dissatisfied with script," "The Story of G.I. Joe," "Jerry over reacts to excitement," "Meredith learns how anti-war he is," "Jerry stabbed herself," "his affair with Moran," "Hawaii," "Saipan," "no notes," "Europe v. Pacific," "Officer elite," "the Navy and censorship," "Ban on names relaxed," "Okinawa," "he would go," "Pyle said not going to make it," "FDR I love him," "Okinawa landing April 1, 1945," "Pyle shot," "Common Man Triumphant," "Buck Eversole," "the mule and the direct hit," "Buck rests for 5 days," "wrote Aug '44, great leaders."

Subject

"Pyle, Ernie, 1900-1945."

"War correspondents--United States--Biography."

"World War, 1939-1945--Journalists."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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