Okinawa post holds annual Ernie Pyle Memorial

American Legion Post OK28, Okinawa, Japan, held its annual Ernie Pyle Memorial on April 20. The memorial was held at the Ernie Pyle Monument on Ie Shima Island, 3.5 miles off the western tip of the Motobu Peninsula of west central Okinawa – the site where Pyle was killed by enemy fire on April 19, 1945. The Legionnaires have held the memorial service at this site since 1952.

Ernie Pyle was a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper war correspondent who reported on World War II from England, North Africa, Italy, France, Saipan and Okinawa. He became a national folk hero by reporting on the average soldier. President Harry Truman said of Pyle after his death, “No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen.”

See more photos of the event on Legiontown.