Ernie Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize–winning World War II correspondent, made his final landing on the hostile beach of Ie Shima, in Japan, on April 17, 1945. The circumstances surrounding his death have been shrouded in mystery, with different accounts offering varying explanations. Some suggest that he went ashore to witness the U.S. Army’s frontline fighting so he could write about their attempt to capture the island’s strategic landing strips. Others propose that he wanted to get back into the mud with soldiers because he felt guilty about the fame and money he had earned as America’s best-known war correspondent.
Robert Sherrod, a fellow war correspondent who shared a cabin with Pyle before the invasion of the island, offers what may be the best explanation. In a post-war interview, he said that Pyle rarely refused a request from a doughboy or any other friend, and he probably went on the invasion because a soldier had persuaded him to do so.
