Death Photo Of Ernie Pyle Found

"COMMAND POST, IE SHIMA, April 18 (AP) - Ernie Pyle, war correspondent beloved by his co-workers, GIs and generals alike, was killed by a Japanese machine-gun bullet through his left temple this morning ..."

This is history, folks.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The figure in the photograph is clad in Army fatigues, boots and helmet, lying on his back in peaceful repose, folded hands holding a military cap. Except for a thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, he could be asleep.

But he is not asleep; he is dead. And this is not just another fallen GI; it is Ernie Pyle, the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II.

As far as can be determined, the photograph has never been published. Sixty-three years after Pyle was killed by the Japanese, it has surfaced - surprising historians, reminding a forgetful world of a humble correspondent who artfully and ardently told the story of a war from the foxholes.

Tobin, author of a 1997 biography, "Ernie Pyle's War," and Owen V. Johnson, an Indiana University professor who collects Pyle-related correspondence, said they had never seen the photo. The negative is long lost, and only a few prints are known to exist. (H/T - KYW1060)

The truly sad part about this story is that there are probably of dozens of people reading this who have no idea who Ernie Pyle was. Suffice to say, he was the journalistic icon of his day, who risked his life - and eventually, lost it - by covering our troops during World War II.

He makes today's "journalists" look like sniveling cowards.