IU to mark Ernie Pyle’s death with moment of silence

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – Indiana University is planning a moment of silence to mark the 70th anniversary of the death of celebrated World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle.

Pyle, who attended IU during the 1920s, became a household name during the war for his dispatches about individual soldiers.

He won a Pulitzer Prize a year before he was killed by a Japanese machine gunner on a Pacific island on April 18, 1945.

To mark Saturday’s anniversary, IU students, faculty and alumni will gather at a life-size bronze statue of Pyle outside the Bloomington campus’ Franklin Hall for a moment of silence and to lay flowers of remembrance.

IU Media School student Leah Johnson will read Pyle’s final column, a tribute to a fellow war correspondents who also died while covering the conflict in Asia.