In the last seven years of my research, Ernie Pyle's name has often been quoted. He was a very special guy and a great war correspondent. You may know this quotation from Ernie but it bears repeating.

There is nothing we can do

for the ones beneath the

wooden crosses except to

pause and murmur,'Thanks, pal'

I like to think he wrote that on Sicily but I'm not sure. It still applies today. I live in Wootton Bassett where eight coffins containing the bodies of eight dead British soldiers have just passed down the high street!

Hey Colin:

So good to see you back. Welcome, welcome!

I have never heard a disrespectful word uttered about Ernie. Yes, he was one heck of a guy and one hell of a reporter. We need people like him today.

Hey Marion,

Thank you for the kind words. I agree with all you said.

It was interesting to see an article on American Ernie Pyle in list of famous war correspondents in a UK weekend newspaper, in fact he topped the list!

Ernie was'nt interested so much in strategies and orders of battle, but more in the ordinary GI's in the field. Over the last nine years of my interest in WWII research I have come across him on many occasions. It is poignient to remember he was killed by Japanese machine gun fire, reporting as ever from the front line.

Colin.

Yes, I believe you are correct. He is definitely one of my faves from WWII. I would have loved to meet him, wouldn't you?

I am going to place your post within another one we had going a while back...

Success! Merged today with a previous one. This way we can see what we've covered.

Thank you M1, that's where it should be.

Colin.

Hello all, I just wanted to add some pictures I took recently to this topic. I just recently took the ferry from the Motobu port (on Okinawa) to Ie Shima (now Iejima) with the family. One of the first things we saw was the Ernie Pyle monument. It is in a neatly kept plot of land (indeed, there were some locals working on the grounds while we were there). It was very quiet and fitting place for the monument. See all of the pictures here. There are more I will share with you, I just haven't gotten to it just yet.

Before:

Now

On the obverse of the monument. The USS Cabot was the first Navy ship he spent time on.

Ah, and I see it was erected by the 1118th Engineers. Way to go boys. Am checking out the other pics right now. Thanks Todd. Great post.

Don't know if you realized it, but your son has the Ernie Pyle smile. Go back and look at the pics and let me know what you think. Uncanny!

Funny! I hadn't noticed, but he does!

Image sent to me by Hugh Ames who lives in Hawaii

This is a great thread about Ernie Pyle. We took a vacation to Oahu back in December, crossed seeing Pearl Harbor off my bucket list. I took this photo of Ernie Pyle's headstone while at the National Cemetery Of The Pacific. It is a beautiful cemetery, sure wished I could have spent more time there walking the grounds.

Randy

Thanks for posting that. Have never been to Hawaii. We love Ernie!