The death of a war reporter

Ernie Pyle is one of the most celebrated war correspondents. He made his name during World War II and was killed by the Japanese sixty-three years ago. A picture showing the death of Pyle recently surfaced. The negative has long since been lost and only a few prints exist,

“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,” said James E. Tobin, a professor at Miami University of Ohio. Tobin, author of a 1997 biography, “Ernie Pyle’s War,” and Owen V. Johnson, an Indiana University professor who collects Pyle-related correspondence, said they had never seen the photo… “When I think about the real treasures of American history that we have,” says Mark Foynes, director of the Wright Museum of World War II in Wolfeboro, N.H., “this picture is definitely in the ballpark.” link