Ernie Pyle from Normandy D-Day June 6th 1944

The Indiana School of Journalism ^ | June 1944 | Ernie Pyle

[Deo volente]

My mom keeps a photograph of a young man she knew back in upstate PA. In the photo, the man is wearing his Army uniform, standing in front of his home. A few months later, he was at Omaha Beach, where he was killed while exiting his landing craft. He never even made it to the beach.
My mom still gets choked up when seeing that photo.

[dfwgator]

As good as SPR was, I still prefer "The Longest Day."

"There are only two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let's get the hell out of here!"

[Dunstan McShane]

When Journalists were Journalists.

When Journalists were still human.

[ex-snook]

Thank you Ernie, rest in peace. [thanks for the post]

[Thank You Rush]

Thanks from me too....Haven’t watched much news today so I don’t know if it’s been covered but I woke up remembering what today is!!!

[bert]

Last week end (Memorial Day) TCM ran 31 war movies in a row. Most were common but a few were obscure. Intermediate was GI Joe, the Ernie Pyle story. To see and learn, hunt this movie up or perhaps remember next year to record and watch.

It is mostly concerned with events in Africa and Italy but shows in accurate detail how the man lived with the troops as they were. He described events he saw close up and first hand.

[bert]

Last week end (Memorial Day) TCM ran 31 war movies in a row. Most were common but a few were obscure. Intermediate was GI Joe, the Ernie Pyle story. To see and learn, hunt this movie up or perhaps remember next year to record and watch.

It is mostly concerned with events in Africa and Italy but shows in accurate detail how the man lived with the troops as they were. He described events he saw close up and first hand.

[wbill]

I was there....

My grandfather had much the same opinion.

We once watched "The Battle of the Bulge" - that 60s era Henry Fonda / Telly Savalas barnburner - together. Grandpa "saw it before it hit the theater", as he lightly put it.

Afterwards, I asked him what he thought of the movie. He said that "It was a fine movie" (he'd not say anything bad about anything, just that kind of guy) BUT... "No one looked cold enough."

That's pretty much how I've rated any kind of war movie, from then on. How cold, wet, miserable, hungry, sick, dirty, etc do the actors look? Are there a couple of smudges of dirt on their face, or are they really, really filthy?

Band of Brothers got it about right, at least from that perspective. Saving Private Ryan was technically accurate, as well. Though I'm not sure if Captain in it would have carried a Thompson....Grandpa qualified on the Thompson, but carried a carbine because it was much lighter and didn't burn through as much ammo, which also saved weight. Matter of personal preference, I suppose. :-)

[Neoliberalnot]

It was Ernie.

The war to end all wars fighting the German socialist movement that cost a substantial number of lives on every front— Why was socialism so bad then but seems acceptable now, not only in Europe, but even in the US? A rag-tag, ill-prepared, force of American rednecks was called on to kill this socialist monster led by that famous progressive with the neatly trimmed mustache. The allies thought they had killed this monster only to have it survive and become the USSR. This socialist curtain failed again only to continue its inexorable sweep of much of the Western world in Europe and now we have the Kenyan socialist trying once again to resurrect this fascist system of government to forge chains for the American system of FREE enterprise. It fails every time, but hey, to the progs, repeating the same mistake will eventually result in a different outcome. Just call it something different and hope for the best. The virtue of stupidity.

[BlueLancer]

"...carried a carbine because it was much lighter and didn't burn through as much ammo, which also saved weight. Matter of personal preference, I suppose. :-)"

I know, back in 1975, when I was in the infantry, I volunteered to carry the M-60 machine gun. Between that and the ammo, along with my .45 and its ammo, the weapons almost weighed more than I did at the time. Road marches were murder and patrolling in the heat was almost unbearable.

But I decided early on that I wanted a weapon that would really reach out and touch someone at whatever distance I could engage them ...

[Neoliberalnot]

“The Longest Day.”

We watched that great movie again this past Saturday.

[wbill]

Yep. Heard the same comments from my grandfather.

He told me - once - about visiting a concentration camp. I believe that it was Dachau. He said that anyone who said that they didn't know about it was lying, because you could smell it from 20 miles away.

I'm pretty sure that it was Dachau - that was in his area of operations. I wish that I'd paid a little closer attention. I was 16-ish, and figured that stories would always be re-told, and that Grandpa would live forever.

[wbill]

wanted a weapon that would really reach out and touch someone

Well, a -60 would certainly accomplish that, lol!

But a Thompson? Heavy. Hard to keep fed. Overrated. Fired that little bitty .45 ACP round, to boot.

Dad and I had occasion to shoot one when I was a teenager, never mind where. Tried to chop down a small tree (maple? don't remember, not important anyway) in a friend's back forty. Forget it. The cartridge didn't even have enough oomph behind it to get the slugs to fully penetrate the wood.

Remember the scene towards the end of Saving Private Ryan, where the Americans (Mellish? think that was the character's name) kill a German on the other side of a doorjamb by firing through the wall with a Thompson? Dad and I laughed out loud at that scene. Good Hollywood-ism, but not real likely to happen.

[Oratam]

thank you

[magslinger]

Yeah, I wish I had written down or better yet recorded some of dad’s stories.

[AwesomePossum]

Thanks..........

8:}