The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1945-04-26
E Helen Boothe

Last Wednesday noon American
people the world over were further
grieved to hear of the violent death
Of Ernie Pyle, who for the past
several years had written so sem
sitively about small places, things
and people" that he had won
place close to the hearts Of the
American people and their G. I.
Joe's everywhere.
AS I looked back over the pic
lures of Ernest Taylor Pyle ernie,
for short) I was impressed with
the change the past three years
had made in his appearance. De-
scribed, in 1941, as ian inconspic-
uous little man with thinning red
dish hair and a shy, pixy face"
three short years had etched deep
lines in the shy face and turned
the thin hair almost white. He,
like Franklin Roosevelt, had paid
the penalty exacted by the physical
and mental strain of his work.
Ernie Pyle, who said Of himself,
II weigh 108 pounds, eat left
handed, am 28 inches around the
waist and still have little hair
left" was the thirtieth Allied war
correspondent to lose his life in
the present war. Besides these,
there are 149 other Allied CORES
pondents missing, wounded or pris-
oners Of war The gallant bravery
of these men who have offered and
are offering their lives so that you
and I may get the story of the
war "first-hand" is an inspiring
thing.
The Middle West has produced
several of these men whose com
mon touch" has especially endeared
them to the public. One of the first
to die ION the job" was Webb Mil
Ter from Dowagiac, Mich. A CORES
pendent who covered the First
World War, Paris, Italy, India, The
Near East, the Spanish Civil War
and Munich, he was general Euro
pean manager of the United Press
when struck in darkened Eng
lish railway station in 1910, even
before our country had become an
active belligerent in the present
conflict. You will recall his book,
1 FOUND NO PEACE, which was
Literary Guild Selection of late
1896.
Raymond Clapper whose intense
respect for the individual citizen
and the sanity of the American
mass mind" had built him an audi
ence of over ten million readers,
was killed in an air collision over
the Marshall Islands on Feb. 8,
1914. Born in Kansas only three
months after Webb Miller's birth in
Michigan in 1892, Raymond Clap
per, at the time of his death, was
the eldest of these three, being SO
years of age. webb Miller was
killed at age of 48 and Ernie Pyle
at A. One of the popular books of
the past year was collection Of
Raymond Clapper's writings under
the title WATCHING THE WORLD,
with an introduction by his friend
of twenty years. Ernie Pyle.
Ernie Pyle spent his boyhood in
Dana, Indiana, a town which only
recently recognized the greatness
Of their native son. This past week.
end the Dana Lions Club announced
their sponsoring of a memorial IL
brary, to be built with funds from
propular subscription, in honor of
their Ernie, the winner of last years
Pulitzer prize for distinguished
correspondence and the first recip-
lent of the Raymond Clapper Mem
orial Award for war correspon-
dence Q944.
One striking fact to note about
these three Midwesterners with q
compassion for humanity and
flair for words was that all three
Of them felt a premonition of death
and expressed that In their writ
ings. On March 31st Ernie Pyle who
had left the European battle front
simply because he couldn't stand
the sight and smell of death any
longer" wrote his wife:
I'm on another invasion. never
intended to, but I feel that must
cover the Marines, and the only
way to do it honestly is to go with
them.
so here I am. But I promised
Max Miller and I've promised my
self, and I promise you that If I
come through this one I will never
go on another one"
Ernie Pyle has made 1t impossible
for that girl" he loved so much
and has missed so deeply during
these war years ever to feel finan-
cial want. HERE Is YOUR WAR
d943) is still selling in large num-
bers. BRAVE MEN, the December
ook-of-the-Month Club selection,
in one brief month outsold all the
other selections of 1914 and left
thousands of orders untitled. Only
two weeks ago its publishers, Hen