This was one of a few events commemorating the 70th anniversary of Pyle’s death. Other happenings included the reopening of the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in Dana, Ind., and a ceremony where Pyle was buried in Hawaii at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Pyle was a journalism student at IU and then became a reporter at the LaPorte Herald and the Washington Daily News, according to an IU press release. His love for travel allowed him to persuade his executives to let him become a traveling reporter.
Pyle reported on the Battle of Britain in England and also covered American troops in the war from 1942 to 1945.
IU Journalism Office Assistant Marilyn Behrman not only ordered and distributed the flowers to everyone, but was there because of an emotional attachment to Pyle’s story. Her great uncle died as a pilot in World War II. She said it would have been nice to be in Hawaii or Dana on Saturday, but being in Bloomington was a nice way to commemorate him.
“It’s all very special,” Behrman said about the events.
The short ceremony Saturday included a brief introduction by IU Journalism Chair Bonnie Brownlee, a column reading of Ernie Pyle’s by junior Leah Johnson and a moment of silence.
Ernie Pyle was killed April 18, 1945, by machine gunfire in World War II.
His column that was read aloud began with, “And so it is over.” This piece was found in his pocket after his death and described what he last saw of the ended war.
Larry Taylor, director of Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, attended the ceremony and said Ernie Pyle has been in the Hall of Fame as of 1966.
Attendee Marjorie Blewett was the editor of the Indiana Daily Student in 1948. During one day of her freshman year in 1944, classes were dismissed in the morning so everyone could attend a gathering in the auditorium. Though Pyle did not speak at this ceremony, Pyle’s years on campus were talked about by others.
“I was very impressed because I was a freshman in journalism,” Blewett said.
Pyle died that next April, and Blewett said she remembered the shock the entire campus felt.
After the ceremony Saturday, the guests stayed and mingled while they took pictures with Ernie Pyle.
As Pyle stated in his last column about the soldiers, “(There are) dead men by mass production in one country after another; month after month; year after year.”
Though Pyle died along with these men, his legacy will continue to live on at IU and beyond.
“Such companionship finally becomes a part of one’s soul, and it cannot be obliterated,” the column reads. “To me, the war in Europe is old and the war in the ?Pacific is new.”
