Purdue professor uncovers lost account of WWII's Ernie Pyle

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University professor and historian John J. Contreni has uncovered a lost account of Ernie Pyle, a beloved World War II news correspondent. Pyle died on April 18, 1945 on the Pacific island of Ie Shima.

Contreni's findings were published in the September 2015 issue of Indiana Magazine of History. "A Story that Can't be Printed" provides insights into military journalism and the mystery surrounding a self-published news article penned under the pseudonym "John Pacific."  

"As far as I know, John Pacific's account of the July 2, 1945 monument dedication to Ernie Pyle on Ie Shima was never printed. It was only shared with friends," Contreni said. "One of the author's friends was my father (John J. Contreni, Sr.). My mother gave me the four sheets of mimeographed paper in 1979, after my father died. I told myself, 'One day I'm going to research to find out the origins.' One day never came until two years ago."

"A Story that Can't be Printed" traces Contreni's work to identify the author known as "John Pacific." He relied on military newspapers to track reporters' bylines and their locations. The overlapping timelines led Contreni to identify the mystery writer as Sgt. William "Jack" Briggs, a military engineer and editor for the Midpacifican, the Army newspaper. He was stationed on Ie Shima at the time of Pyle's death and was a friend of Contreni's father.

"I think it worked in my favor that I did not begin researching sooner. Without the Internet I don't think I would have been able to search these names. It was like trying to put together a puzzle," Contreni said.

Contreni, a medieval historian, said the source material was invaluable to his research.

"As a newcomer to modern history, I was quite surprised that very little has been done on military journalism. I thought (military journalism) would be public relations, but these military journalists were independent. They had been journalists before they chose the military. They did not abandon their journalistic principles and that made for difficult relationships, at times, with their more political superiors. It was eye opening and very interesting for me," he said. "Jack Briggs's account of the memorial dedication was quite bitter and reflected tension between Army officers and enlisted men during war time."

Contreni donated the original mimeographed article to the Ernie Pyle collection at Indiana University's The Lilly Library.

Pyle, a native of Indiana, was an acclaimed World War II news correspondent for Scripps-Howard newspapers. His coverage of the war served 14 million readers. Despite Pyle's notoriety, the Boston Herald was the only official newspaper to cover the dedication of the monument erected in his honor.  

Writer: John Hughey, 765-494-2432, hugheyj@purdue.edu

Source: John Contreni, contreni@purdue.edu