What real journalism was :Ernie Pyle – the original war correspondent Brought home the tragedy of D-Day and the rest of WWII
06 June 2009 1:21 pm by djjl
http://tinyurl.com/lft28h
We are only now allowed to view the return of soldiers who have sacrificed their lives. They were to fight and die in relative anonymity. This is the kind of story Americans read in their newspapers 6 days a week for 4 years:
“DANA, Ind. – This tiny farming community seems like a typical small town in most respects. But this is the home town of Ernie Pyle, and over the course of each year about 10,000 tourists journey here to pay tribute to America’s most famous, and most beloved, war correspondent.
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She recalled one of his more chilling columns. “He said I have gotten to the point where I can hardly stand to look at a group of fresh recruits coming in.”
Why? Because, she said, he knew that half of them would soon be dead. “He lived with them, he was their friend, and he got to the point that he couldn’t stand to look them in the face.”
Pyle didn’t write of generals or military strategy.
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“I love the infantry because they are the underdogs,” he wrote in one column. “They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can’t be won without.”
His Pulitzer Prize-winning column appeared in newspapers across the nation 6 days a week. He was one of the most famous men in America — millions of Americans viewed World War II through his eyes.
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…one of Pyle’s most famous. It’s called “Normandy Tides.” He wrote it the day after D-Day, describing what he called the “long thin line of anguish” of dead soldiers’ belongings that ran along the beach.
“It extends in a thin little line, just like a high-water mark, for miles along the beach,” he wrote. “This is the strewn personal gear, gear that will never be needed again, of those who fought and died to give us our entrance into Europe…. Here are toothbrushes and razors, and snapshots of families back home staring up at you from the sand.”
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The war was hard on Pyle. He fell into what he called a “flat black depression.” And it’s no wonder given the horrors he chronicled.
Pyle has often been called the original embedded journalist, blazing a trail decades ago that’s now being followed by reporters in Iraq.
Pyle, though, was much more than that. He wasn’t tied to one Company, or Battalion, or Division, as the Pentagon program now requires. He moved freely from unit to unit.
And instead of being embedded for one or two months, Pyle did it for an astounding three years. And he followed the war around the globe, from England, to France, North Africa, Italy, and finally the Pacific.
It was there, on April 18, 1945 on the small island of Ie Shima, near Okinawa, that Pyle was killed by a Japanese sniper. Heartbroken troops erected a sign where he was killed. “At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle.”
An entire nation mourned. President Truman said, “No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as the American fighting man wanted it told.”
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This post was submitted by djjl.
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Pyle wrote in simple prose about the lives and deaths of America’s Sons, Husbands,Fathers and Brothers. Never before and never since has a journalist captured the day to day existance from the soul killing boredom to the frantic terror and desperation of combat.
Could you IMAGINE someone today attempting to write like him? He would be at BEST expelled from any sphere controled by the Military and very likely imprisoned by Der Department Uf Homelant Zecusity when he arrived here. Not to mention what OLielly ,Handjobity and Limpwithnoballs would scream about.
secular
That is the reason I posted this. I remember my grandfather and aunt speaking of Ernie Pyle. My father was in WWII and they felt they shared in my father’s life during the time he was at war. In a dreadful was it was comforting to them. They felt, to the extent possible, they could share and lift him and his companions up in thoughts and prayers because they understood where he was in a very real way.
In the first Gulf War, I wondered why our Governmental leadership felt that the American citizens should not see what their government was doing in their name. It was the government’s intent to remove soldiers and citizens from the real awareness of what was being done. We were to be desensitized.
Recall this:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/gulfwar.htm
Recall the “Highway of Death,” the deadly stretch of road in Kuwait that was littered with burned-out vehicles and charred bodies. U.S. military forces, in violation of international law, fired on retreating and largely defenseless Iraqi soldiers just before the cease-fire. U.S. pilots described it in news accounts as a “turkey shoot” and “like shooting fish in a barrel.” The carnage was not only unnecessary but grotesque.
secularhumanizinevoluter says:
06 June 2009 at 5:29 pm
No, I cannot.
When the US media was imbedded in Iraq, they were seduced into providing stories that bolstered the Administration instead of telling us the truth. It began the great unwinding of US journalism, which culminated with Richard Wolffe, but also Evan Thomas, who dared to say Obama was God, something that serves no one, particularly not Mr. Obama.
I say this as someone who respects our President immensely, but doesn’t want him treated with kid gloves by the press. It is destined to have a bad ending, because whatever they build up they destroy.
Taylor and SecularH (& Sec – I hope you get to see my comment in the ‘Gay’ feed before it drops off) — I have been yelling about this for several years now. We have reached a point where cable TV can only be ’successful’ if a channel finds a ‘niche’ no one else is covering. Frankly, I’m surprised the KKK or the Aryan Nation channel has yet to rear its ugly head. The problem here isn’t that there is a ‘right-wing’ Fox News accompanied by a ‘left-wing’ MSNBC. The problem is that individuals choose to *freeze* their input on only one side or the other, as opposed to listening to both and then using their heads to evaluate whose take they agree with on that particular matter. In short: Too many people are willing to declare the ‘other side’ to be idiots – regardless of the subject. Thus; they are being led by their noses like ignorant sheep.
I wish I had the solution to this – but I don’t. I just see it getting worse and worse – even in my own family.
and BtW, Taylor – I guess what I’m really trying to say here sometimes, is that (in my lifetime) I have never *ever* seen a President bust his ass so hard attempting to ‘bridge’ all these gaps. Not just this horrible ‘red versus blue’ in our own country – but also in a worldwide attempt toward human reconciliation that Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan, and Gene Roddenberry would be proud of.
To date – he’s not ‘perfect’ – he doesn’t walk on water – but I am *damned* proud of where he’s gone so far. And I believe the people I mentioned above are as well – if they’re watching from beyond.
pmichael
I don’t think he’s busted his ass harder than any other President – he’s benefited from a curtseying, kowtowing press. Has he done well thus far at least in tone – absolutely. But he’s had a lot of help from the press that no President other than George W Bush has had (at least for a few years agter 9/11) that I can recall either in my life or study of history.
The implosion of the Republican Party and the writhing of it’s extreme right wing have been a serendipitous benefit as well.
I am waiting for some substance before giving him kudos for accomplishments other than being charismatic.
djjl, your recognition of that all-inclusive ‘voice’ we now call the ‘Press’ and its *huge* influence is certainly recognized here. You may perhaps have even witnessed my own complaints in this matter – expressed in previous threads.
“I am waiting for some substance before giving him kudos for accomplishments other than being charismatic.”
As are a LOT of people my friend.
But the first ‘goal’ is the recreation of that entity that has become so rare, the ‘term’ almost dropped out of the dictionary.
The first goal is to bring back what we used to call the “diplomat” – definition: a person who is tactful and skillful in managing delicate situations, handling people, etc.
It is a ’skill’ I used to believe was particularly resident to this country I love. Recently, it was replaced by what we can only identify as the ‘Bully‘. The schoolyard asshole was somehow in charge of my country. For me, this was a nightmare I have difficulty living with.
Barack Obama is a breath of fresh air that gives me more hope than I have had in many years.
Oh, and djjl —
Taylor can tell you I was pushing hard for Hillary back in 2003 (when Taylor wrongfully argued it ‘wasn’t yet the time’), while she and I were totally in agreement regarding her run in 2007.
I disliked both Barack and Michelle tremendously. I have to be (always) honest. I cannot even count the number of attack articles I wrote about that stupid prejudiced ‘church’ he belonged to.
But little by little, he has earned my respect
– even my ‘admiration’.
If you knew me at all – I think you would be *very* impressed by my apparent ‘change of heart’.
I do not dislike either Obama. I am particularly taken with how Michelle Obama has conducted herself as First Lady.
Yeh, He’s got a lot to do – to UNDO 8 years of bully boys Bush/Cheney. Obama is certainly not the first POTUS to use diplomacy. And Obama’s diplomacy – contrasted to Bush/Cheney – is a welcome relief for the entire world.
I see home only as he has shown us who he is at this point. He has done no heavy lifting. I’m hoping that the radio speech Saturday on an indicatopr that he is truly willing to fight for health care.
I hope the so called progressive grassroots and maybe Colin Powell can give him the spine to get rid of DADT – DADT is not in the best interest of keeping America safe.
pmichael
I always enjoy your thoughtful posts. You always share on a personal nature – thank you.
djjl,
That is the sentiment of the ‘diplomat’.
But this ol’ fart very much appreciates it.
Thank you back two times.
BTW pmichael,
Where are you and why are you up so early
djjl, I am in central CA.
My stomach was pretty much taken away 16 years ago and I was told I had only two years at most. My lungs had collapsed. My kidneys failed. I was afflicted with acute pancreatitus. That was in 1993.
Guess they didn’t realize how stubborn I was. I’m still here.
But to truly answer your question; I have to grab every moment my system allows – and sometimes that’s at very odd times.
My gosh pmichael, how awful for you.
It is, however, good that you “learned” something very important from your medical catastrophe – life is very fragile. But the human spirit and the body’s ability to battle is very strong indeed.
It must be just short of 3:00 am?
I’m in Little Rock and it’s 4:56 am. I’ve been up a couple hours. Sinus drainage leading to a miserably sore throat the last 2 days and especially nights. Woke up at just after 2:00 am and got up to take aspirin and make a cup of hot fresh lemonade for my throat. Of course, my sleep hours have been all over the place (went to sleep at about 7:00 pm last night) and I just decided to stay up. Newspaper is here now, so I’ve got something to do in my mini-misery.
BTW
Your posts do show that your tough – not stubborn. But, staying alive is one of those things that is surely ok to be stubborn about. I’m glad you won
Back on the journalism/war coverage side of this thread. I stayed up late (humm was the late night the full moon?) last night finishing reading “The Eleventh Man” by Ivan Doig.
Set in WWII, it follows the odd man out in a group of football buddies who all fight in the war with the protagonist pulled out of flight training to be a journalist. Dont’ want to give the story away – really good read.
Thanks AliceP
I love to read – I’ll check that out.
“pmichael…Taylor and SecularH (& Sec – I hope you get to see my comment in the ‘Gay’ feed before it drops off)”
Saw and appriciated the comment. Hope you get to read my reponce to pshycodrew.