April 18, 1945
THE NATION is quickly saddened again by the death of Ernie Pyle. No man in this war has so
well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. More
than any other man he became the spokesman of the ordinary American in arms doing so many
extraordinary things. It was his genius that the mass and power of our military and naval forces
never obscured the men who made them.
He wrote about a people in arms as people still, but a people moving in a determination which did
not need pretensions as a part of power.
Nobody knows how many individuals in our forces and at home he helped with his writings. But all
Americans understand now how wisely, how warmheartedly, how honestly he served his country
and his profession. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen.
THE NATION is quickly saddened again by the death of Ernie Pyle. No man in this war has so
well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. More
than any other man he became the spokesman of the ordinary American in arms doing so many
extraordinary things. It was his genius that the mass and power of our military and naval forces
never obscured the men who made them.
He wrote about a people in arms as people still, but a people moving in a determination which did
not need pretensions as a part of power.
Nobody knows how many individuals in our forces and at home he helped with his writings. But all
Americans understand now how wisely, how warmheartedly, how honestly he served his country
and his profession. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen.