PBS’s series, “History Detectives,” featured a mystery involving a typewriter alleged to have belonged to World War II reporter-hero Ernie Pyle. This is an encore post from May 1, 2007, originally entitled “Typewriter of the moment: Ernie Pyle.” Extra links are posted at the end.
This typewriter, a Corona (before the merger made Smith-Corona), belonged to Ernie Pyle, the columnist famous for traveling with the the foot soldiers of all services in World War II. Pyle won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his columns in 1943, published collectively in the books Here is Your War and Brave Men. Pyle was killed covering the end of World War II in the Pacific, on an island named Ie Shima, on April 18, 1945.
The typewriter rests in the Albuquerque Museum. It comes with a story.
From the Albuquerque Museum’s exhibit, “America’s Most Loved Reporter”:
[Quote] Ernie Pyle interviewed Sergeant Don Bell, a rodeo rider, in June or July 1944 outside of St. Lo, France. Bell recalled that the foxhole they shared caved in during German shelling. Pyle said, “I have my notes, but my little portable typewriter is buried in that hole.” They hurriedly abandoned the foxhole, leaving the typewriter behind.
Sgt. Bell later salvaged it, kept it through the war, and donated it to the Museum in 1990. A photograph of Pyle in Normandy, typing on an Underwood, may have been taken after this event.
Bell recalled the interview as comforting. He wrote, “…Ernie had taken my ma’s wisdom and turned it into a soldier’s lesson: to find strength in battle you take hold of strength you’ve known at home…and of the faith that underlies it.” [End quote]
Additional on-line sources about Ernie Pyle and his typewriters, July 16, 2007:
- “History Detectives” on PBS, segment on Ernie Pyle typewriter
- “History Detectives” lesson plans on history methods
- Press release from Indiana University’s School of Journalism, where History Detectives filmed at Ernie Pyle Hall
- Wartime columns of Ernie Pyle, from Indiana University’s School of Journalism
- University of New Mexico press release, History Detectives at Albuquerque Museum
- The Sciolist, column on war reporting comparing Ernie Pyle and Iraq war coverage
- National Society of Newspaper Columnists web page on Ernie Pyle
- Human Events, R. Cort Kirkwood, “Remembering Ernie Pyle”
- MyTypewriter.com, feature on Ernie Pyle
- Indiana School of Journalism press release, ” Boomhower pens Pyle bio for youth market”
- Outwest Newspaper feature on Ernie Pyle, before the war
- Answers.com article on Erne Pyle
- Article from the University of San Diego history server
- Hasbro’s D-Day Collection GI Joe figures include Ernie Pyle
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