21 Sep Ernie Pyle
The death of the Pulitzer Prize‐winning syndicated columnist prompted a front‐page story in The New York Times. President Harry Truman said, “The nation is quickly saddened. No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen.” Gen. George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff, said: “Ernie Pyle belonged to the millions of soldiers he had made his friends.” Pyle was killed just short of his 45th birthday ‐‐ older than many war correspondents and generally much older than the soldiers whose actions he reported.