Today, Saturday, April 18th, is National Columnists’ Day and the 81st anniversary of the loss of Ernie Pyle. Pyle was a Pulitzer-winning columnist whose style is still studied today.
On April 18th, 1945, Pyle was working as a war correspondent in Okinawa, Japan, when he was targeted by a sniper. Pyle wrote about American life during the Great Depression, describing the towns and people he came across, but it was his coverage of World War II that really highlighted his style.
A column can be many things – short, long, detailed, vague, emotional, or just basic facts. Pyle typically wrote his columns in less than 800 words so they would fit well on a newspaper page, while giving him the space to describe the daily life of the soldiers around him. His writing is often described as folksy because he wrote about what he saw, and he didn’t play it up for the audience – he just told it like it was.
His most famous story, “The Death of Captain Waskow,” is the epitome of this. Pyle isn’t describing the deaths around him or the scene of the battle – he writes about the reactions of the men as they carry the fallen, how they whispered to Captain Waskow, and how he felt ashamed to be one of the living.
It was written for every reader, of every walk of life, back home, so they knew what their neighbors, friends, and family were experiencing. Today, or maybe this week, we should all take the time to read a column by a writer we often overlook – or we can look back at the works of past columnists like Ernie Pyle, Ann Landers, Andy Rooney, and Herb Caen.
Find a writer you disagree with and begin reading their column each week. Will it strengthen your current opinions, or will it make you see the world through a wider lens?
Llewellyn King said, “The role of the columnist is to bear witness and provoke thought.”
The world would be a lot less thought-provoking without reading columns written by writers of all walks of life with varying opinions and views. If there’s even one inspiring writer or columnist out there reading this, I want to share one more fact about the late, Pulitzer Prize-winning Ernie Pyle in the hope that you can use it as fuel to continue writing.
At the time Pyle wrote his most famous work, he was sending his columns to Associated Press correspondent, Don Whitehead, telling him that he had “lost the touch” and that his work “stinks”.
That work “stunk” so badly, it was published on the front page of the Washington Daily News, selling out every edition they had printed. It was read on the radio by several major personalities at the time, was reprinted in Time magazine, and even used to sell war bonds.
People’s stories need to be shared, the status quo needs to be questioned, and history needs to be recorded, so keep writing. Thank you to all columnists who take the time to continue writing each week.
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