Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vision of the past, March 5, 1997
By A Customer
Ernie Pyle, probably the greatest journalist who ever lived, presents his best work from the American campaign in North Africa. Through Ernie's words, we see how life was like in WWII for the average soldier. Ernie never cared for raving on about generals and admirals -- just the average "Joe." His books read like the greatest screenplays. And yet they are not fiction. They are real stories, memoirs, recollections, biographies of hundreds of soldiers. His book is a living, breathing echoe of America's blood and tears in World war II. A must for any journalist, journalism student or anyone interested in World War II and military history
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Story By The Greatest War Correspondent Of World War Two, September 23, 2003
As a combat veteran, I have always admired Ernie Pyle. He stood head and shoulders above other reporters in World War Two. He was in the thick of battles, shoulder to shoulder with the troops. More than that, he saw war through the eyes of individual soldiers. He shows us their human side while they do a dirty job, and he gives them dignity that they richly deserve. If you haven't been in combat, you haven't a clue as to what it is like, but Ernie Pyle's words come closer to a realistic picture of the many facets of war than anything else I have read. Here Is Your War begins on a ship carrying inexperienced, American troops to the invasion of North Africa in November, 1942. Through Pyle's eyes, we follow their landing at Oran, their pounding and defeats by the Germans as they struggle eastward, the bitter battles in Tunisia, and final victory in the Spring of 1943. If you are in combat long enough, you will die, and it happened to Ernie Pyle on Okinawa in the Spring of 1945. But he left us memorable words about war, such as those in this book. It is well worth reading.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Feel of Americans Fighting in WW II, June 5, 2000
I've been reading Pyle's "Here is Your War," his accounts from the North African Campaign. It is easy to see why Pyle was beloved, not just by the soldiers (especially the infantrymen), but by the folks at home too. Pyle loved these guys and they loved him. He was "embedded" with them for years. He and they hated the job they had to do, and they were grimly determined that they were not going home until they had done it. Ernie never did get home--he is still out there, still telling his stories, still helping us feel why his guys and his words are still important.Pyle was not shy in telling readers that he was never big on going on "heroic" missions just so he could write about them. He would pass on opportunities to stick his neck way out. It is interesting and ironic that Ernest Hemingway, another war correspondent, who sought any opportunity to make a hero out of himself, frequently and enviously mentions Pyle, but Pyle never mentions Hemingway. When they were both in Paris in 1944 at the Liberation, Pyle was with the GIs, Hemingway was in the Ritz Bar with the generals. Pyle was always ready to go anyhwere with the troops, and if that meant being shot at, he just hung on with the rest of the fellows. Pyle made it clear to the readers that the real heroism was being there and sticking it out, not the particular feats of bravery that garnered the headlines and the medals. He showed all the guys (and the gals; Pyle's second love were the ladies in the uniforms) were heroes and he told the folks at home why. There are never any "minor combat actions" for the lads and lasses under fire, and Pyle gives the feeling of that "pucker factor," when the enemy is shooting, strafing, and shelling. But he also conveys a deeper feeling that is largely missing from combat today. In the 1940s, Americans went to war knowing not just that they or their friends might die, but that our side could lose the whole war. Today, the individual American soldier knows he or she might have a "bad day," but we are all pretty sure we know who's side is going to win. In 1942 or 1943, the fate of the world was riding on those young boys Ernie Pyle loved so deeply. What is beautiful is that Ernie never had to write anything profound about why these guys were out there doing the fighting. He just told their personal stories in a way that told the whole story for all of us. I would recommend any of Pyle's books, to be read along with a copy of the late Bill Mauldin's "Up Front," his WW II cartoons of Willie and Joe. Mauldin drew cartoon versions of the GI infantrymen that Pyle loved the most. Pyle and Mauldin are the very best way I know to introduce a young person to the Americans in World War II. Pyle and Mauldin are the words and the pictures that provide the feel, of the life and the death, the humor and sadness, the guts and the fear and the bravery, of this Greatest Generation of Americans at war. There were no two journalists as loved by combat soldiers. Without the feel that only they convey it is very hard to give the history of WW II much real human meaning. Colonel (ret.) Frank Stech, PhD USAR
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