Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945)
Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by
Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off the coast
of Okinawa. Extremely popular, especially with the average GI,
whose life and death he reported on (American infantrymen braved
enemy fire to recover Pyle’s body), Pyle had been at the London Blitz
of 1941 and saw action in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Pacific.
A monument exists to him to this day on Ie Shima, describing him
simply as “a buddy.” Burgess Meredith portrayed him in the 1945
film The Story of GI Joe.
Indiana University celebrated The Media School with a formal inauguration of the new school and dedication of the above
sculpture of World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle in 2014.
