SOURCE: "Brave Man," in Seeing Things, Whittlesey House, 1946, pp. 46-53.

In the following essay, which was first published in 1945, Brown provides a personal remembrance of Pyle, commenting on Pyle's motivation in writing about "the common frontline soldier."

"Hi-ya, Ernie?" That's what they used to cry when they saw him. In their throats this was more than a salutation. It was also a question; a question which came from their hearts, and brightened their eyes. They really cared. They wanted him to be feeling "fine."

No other military figure held a higher place in their affections than did this unmilitary little man. They knew that in Ernie they had a friend. I say "Ernie" because the fact that he was known as Ernie was part of his character. A stranger would no more have thought of referring to him as "Mr. Pyle" than he would have dreamed of calling...