1900-1945
War Correspondent

The Regular American.

Ernie Pyle was the most famous war correspondent the United States ever produced. A Midwesterner who quit college after three years, Pyle was the eyes and voice of the regular American, able to describe the experience of individuals at war in the language of the readers at home.

First Newspaper Job.

Pyle missed World War I when his parents ordered him to graduate from high school and refused to allow him to enlist. As a senior at Indiana University in January 1923, Pyle quit to accept a job as a reporter on the LaPorte (Ind.) Herald. In just a few months he was offered a job as a reporter on the Washington Daily News.

Traveling the Country.

In July 1925 he married Geraldine "Jerry" Seibolds, an intelligent but troubled civil-service worker. Calling themselves bohemians, the couple did not allow their friends to...