The photo of dead Ernie Pyle by Lenka Filipova

The photo of dead Ernie Pyle, the very famous war correspondent, has emerged recently as a bolt form the blue. It captures the corpse vested in Army fatigues, helmet on his head, boots untouched. The body lies in its reposeful position, hand hooked holding his military cap. At the first sight it might seem that the soldier is napping. Alas, the thin seepage of blood reveals that the person in the photo is dead. Ernie Pyle was killed in World War II in 1945, firstly buried among soldiers on Ie Shima. Four years later his body was transported to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater, near Honolulu. In the meantime, the photograph has never been published. It underwent verification, but none of the eight military repositories and history centers could distinguish the photo claiming that it was unknown to them. Even the most probable museum, the National Archives & Record Administration, proclaimed it had never seen the picture. The photograph was published by Richard Strasser (88), a naval officer at retirement. He was given a packet of pictures by George, a friend of Ernie Pyle. As Richard said he remembered the Pyle's visit shortly before he was killed. When Strasser returned to civilian life he decided to find out the content of the envelope. He was taken aback, of course, finding the photo of dead Ernie Pyle. He knew his widow was still alive and was contemplating whether to send it to her. Finally, he decided not to do so as he had confused feelings about it. According to Mark Foynes, director of The Wright Museum of World War II, the photography means a real treasury to American history.

by Lenka Filipova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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