After Ernie Pyle was killed by a single shot from a sniper, the Army's 77th Infantry Division, who he was with at the time, built a temporary memorial. After the three month battle of Okinawa, engineers from the 77th replaced the temporary marker with a permanent one. I had the opportunity to visit the marker of the island of Ie Jima in 2008 while assigned to the 505th Quartermaster Battalion on Okinawa.
The Original Pyle Memorial Marker
The Permanent Marker when it was dedicated July 2, 1945
Pyle was buried on Ie Shima (now Ie Jima) two days after his death in April 1945.
After World War II, Pyle's remains were disinterred and reburied in a cemetery on Okinawa. In 1949, when the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was dedicated in Hawaii, Pyle's remains were buried there its first day of operation. After the burials of two unknown soldiers (one of either side of Pyle), Pyle was honored as the first known person buried at the site.
Pyle was honored in many traditional ways, but also in a few unique ways. Boeing employees build a B-29 and named it the Ernie Pyle...
...and the Ernie Pyle Memorial Theater, one of the largest headquarters/recreation sites in all of occupied Japan (specifically in downtown Tokyo was also named in his honor. The Pyle Theater was depicted on the front of a commemorative medal many service members purchased a souvenirs.
The back of the Pyle Theater medal was engraved with "Memories of Landing in Japan" and the year the medal was minted. A new batch was put out every year.
No comments:
Post a Comment