Dunbar also worked as a journalist. He became London correspondent for the Associated Negro Press news service in 1932, and in 1936 reported for them on debates in the House of Commons on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Additionally he was a war correspondent with the American 8th Army and crossed the English Channel on D-Day. He reputedly distinguished himself by warning the US Artillery Battalion of an ambush near Marchin during the Battle of the Bulge.