23-05-2025
Ernie Pyle, Capt. Waskow and the common soldiers who died for America
Most journalism is, at most, the 'first rough draft of history.' Occasionally, however, there is some journalism — even of the most perishable kind: a column — that attains an immortality because of its simple sufficiency. It leaves nothing to be said, the words having perfectly suited a moment.
One such was the most famous piece by a columnist who soared from obscurity to a place in the nation's consciousness unmatched before or since. On this Memorial Day, take a moment for Ernie Pyle's 'The Death of Captain Waskow,' a man in his mid-20s from Belton, Texas. The dispatch was datelined 'AT THE FRONT LINES IN ITALY, January 10, 1944.'
