Ernie Pyle: The Voice of the American Soldier in World War II | The National WWII Museum | New...

On April 18, 1945, Ernie Pyle, American journalist and war correspondent during WW II who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1944, died at the age of 44. From the article:

"...In March, Ernie sailed with the Allied invasion fleet bound for Okinawa. A few weeks later, he reported that “We are firmly on Okinawa, which is like having your foot in the kitchen door.” On April 17, 1945 Ernie went ashore on the little island of Ie Shima off the coast of Okinawa. The US Army’s 77th Infantry Division was in the final stages of securing the small airfield on the ten-square-mile island. The following morning, Ernie was riding in a jeep with an army officer when a hidden Japanese machine gunner opened fire. Ernie and his companion dove into a nearby ditch, but when Ernie raised his head a short time later, a bullet struck him just below the rim of his helmet. He was 44 years old.

Ernie Pyle’s death dealt a blow to Americans still reeling from the loss of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12. President Harry S. Truman paid tribute to the fallen correspondent, as did former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who fondly remembered meeting him. In 1946, a selection of Ernie’s Pacific theater pieces were published posthumously under the title Last Chapter. Today his work is still the yardstick by which all other war reporting is judged. Although Ernie constantly worried that he was unable to give Americans the full picture of how horrible the war truly was, soldiers themselves thought he came closer than anyone else. Their affection for Ernie was evident on the monument erected on the site of his death:

AT THIS SPOT
THE 77th INFANTRY DIVISION
LOST A BUDDY
ERNIE PYLE
18 April 1945."