Feb. 4, 2008
A death photo of World War II correspondent and Hoosier Ernie Pyle has surfaced, the Associated Press reported Sunday. Pyle was killed by a single round from a machine gun in April 1945 on Ie Shima in the South Pacific. The photo shows his body, hands folded at his waist.
WW II veteran Richard Strasser of Goshen, Ind., provided his photo, a contact print from the 4-by-5-inch negative, to the AP. Strasser told AP he had been given the photo, taken by Army photographer Alexander Roberts, in a packet with others, which he had gotten from a friend who worked in the ship’s photo lab. Strasser had worked on the USS Panamint, a Navy communications ship in that area of the Pacific.
AP said it surveyed history museums and archives and found only a few copies in existence, and no trace of the original negative.
- See the photo and read the full AP report.
- Read an interview with alumnus and author Ray Boomhower, B.A. ‘82, who says the photo is nothing new. Copies are in the archives at the Indiana Historical Society and at the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site at Dana, Ind.
- Read more about Ernie Pyle.
