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JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September
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JCSM Shareware Collection (JCS Distribution) (September 1996).ISO
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* *
* ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND ERNIE PYLE WITH THE 4TH *
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For a time after our landing, two prominent writers
accompanied the 4th Division. They had the same first
name, Ernest. That, however, was where the similarity
ended. Ernest Hemingway and Ernie Pyle were as unlike
each other as two men can be. Nevertheless, they left
behind a useful record of the division's battles.
Since my encounters with these men were superficial, I
must rely on other sources. For Hemingway, I have reread
parts of Carlos Baker's biography, Ernest Hemingway, A
Life Story. In addition, part of his Collier's articles
written while he was with the 4th appear in By-Line,
published after his death. I have found no biography of
Ernest Taylor (Ernie) Pyle, but several chapters in his
Brave Men concern his time with the 4th.
When Hemingway and Pyle joined the Division in Normandy,
they were both famous. They had also already seen a great
deal of war. Hemingway drew on his experiences during
World War I in Farewell to Arms and during the Spanish
Civil War in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Pyle had accompanied
American forces in Sicily and Italy.
From these experiences, the two Ernests had arrived at quite
different views of war. Hemingway was preoccupied with
death and, at the very least, combat lured him. In addition,
he was not content to report on the fighting but at times
participated in it.
Pyle's abhorrence of combat emerged clearly one night, when
we shared a dirty concrete farmhouse floor in Normandy. As
I was telling him about our failed night attack, he kept
repeating "Terrible. Terrible." At the end of his book Brave
Men, he said, "...for me war has become a flat, black
depression without highlights, a revulsion of the mind and
an exhaustion of the spirit." While feeling this, however, he
could not resist after the liberation of Paris going to the
Pacific to report another war.
The personalities of the two Ernests were also sharply
different. Hemingway was haunted by demons and extremely
insecure. He coped with this by being an exhibitionist. The
trouble was that he was not content to entertain but was
often sadistic, particularly with people of whom he was fond.
Carlos Baker's biography is filled with examples of
unforgivable behavior. Pyle, on the other hand, was a very
shy man, whom it was easy to be with.
If Pyle ever made any remarks about Hemingway, I am not
aware of it. It would certainly have been uncharacteristic of
him to make any unkind comments about anyone.
Hemingway, on the other hand, often expressed contempt for
the work of other writers. He once spoke mockingly of "the
great Ernie Pyle's premonitions." On other occasions he
referred to himself as Old Ernie Hemorrhoid, the Poor Man's
Pyle.
Hemingway and Pyle also had quite different views of their
roles. Pyle carefully followed the rules laid down by the
military for correspondents. He often moved with front line
units, but it would never have occurred to him to carry a
gun, let alone participate in the fighting.
By way of contrast, Hemingway was not content to be an
observer. He not only put himself into dangerous situations
but also at times took part in the fighting. When hearing in
Normandy that Germans were hiding in a cellar, he called
to them to come out and then tossed hand grenades into
the cellar. He did not check, however, to see what the
results were or whether, indeed, there were any Germans
there.
One of Hemingway's adventures got him in hot water with
the military authorities. During the advance on Paris, he
assumed command of a group of Frenchmen to defend
Rambouillet against a possible German attack. Other
correspondents complained about his behavior. After he
reached Germany, he was summoned to appear for a
hearing. He only avoided losing his credentials by perjuring
himself about what happened. He later expressed regret
about having to lie under oath. This is ironic, since he never
hesitated to exaggerate his role in events.
Given the drama unfolding around us, these episodes seem
now unimportant. What matters is the written record the
two Ernests left behind them. Again, we find ourselves
confronted with a sharp contrast.
ERNIE PYLE' DESCRIPTION OF COMBAT
Having tried it, I am impressed with how difficult it is to
convey to a person who has not experienced combat what
it is like. Films usually fail, because they have too many
things going on at once. Ernie Pyle comes as close to
succeeding as anyone I have read.
In his book Brave Men, he has chapters on the landing,
Operation Cobra, fighting in the hedgerows, and the
liberation of Paris. Perhaps because we shared this
overwhelming experience, I particularly like his chapter on
Cobra. He says, "I teamed up with the Fourth Infantry
Division since it was in the middle of the three (divisions)
spearheading the attack."
The climax of his account of the bombing was when bombs
started falling all around us. "There is no description of the
sound and fury of those bombs except to say it was chaos,
and a waiting for darkness. The feeling of the blast was
sensational. The air struck us in hundreds of continuing
flutters. Our ears drummed and rang. We could feel quick
little waves of concussion on the chest and in the eyes."
Pyle's description of fighting in the hedgerows tackles a more
difficult task, for it was less dramatic. He manages, however,
to catch the essence when he says, "We had to dig them
out. It was a slow and cautious business, and there was
nothing dashing about it. Our men...went in tiny groups, a
squad or less, moving yards apart and sticking close to the
hedgerows on either side of the field. They crept a few
yards, squatted, waited, then crept again."
ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES WITH THE 4TH DIVISION
Hemingway went to Europe as a correspondent for Collier's.
Reading his articles today, I can understand why his
colleagues thought so little of them. After reading a draft of
the article The G.I. and the General, Charles Collingwood
unwisely told Hemingway it read like a parody of Ernest
Hemingway. As a result, Hemingway did not speak to him
for several weeks. On the other hand, I do not entirely agree
with Roald Dahl's critical view of the article about D-Day. It
may not be a literary masterpiece, but it surely captures the
confusion that took place at Omaha Beach that day. What
struck me about this article is that it leaves the impression
Hemingway was in command of the landing craft he was on,
but perhaps he was.
It is clear to me that Hemingway's heart was not in his
articles and that they simply legitimated his adventures. We
must, therefore, thank Carlos Baker for the effort he devoted
in his biography to recapturing Hemingway's wartime
experiences.
After Pearl Harbor, Hemingway was in no hurry to leave his
adopted home in Cuba. For two years, he was content to
play at war by using his cabin cruiser Pilar to hunt German
submarines. In mid-1944, however, he followed his journalist
wife, Martha Gellhorn, to London. There he met Mary Welsh,
another journalist, who would in due course become his
fourth wife.
On the eve of the invasion, after one of his drinking bouts,
the car in which he was riding had an accident, and he got
a concussion. He managed, however, to board a troop
transport and make the run into Omaha beach on a landing
craft. Not liking what he saw there, he returned to London
to write his account and to be with Mary Welsh.
Shortly before the breakout, he returned to Normandy,
where he joined the 4th Division. General Barton, who was
only vaguely aware of who Hemingway was, sent him to the
22nd Regiment. Col. Charles T. (Buck) Lanham was
commanding this unit, and the two began a close friendship
which lasted until Hemingway's death.
When he joined the 4th, Hemingway was forty-five and
understandably had no interest in the discomfort of moving
with combat troops all the time. Until the end of 1944,
however, he usually managed to rejoin the 22nd for its
major battles. The exception was the September attack on
the Siegfried Line, when Hemingway was ill. He was,
however, present for the fighting in the Huertgen, which still
lies ahead of us in this narrative.
It is a pity that Hemingway never wrote a World War II
novel which could compare with A Farewell to Arms or For
Whom the Bell Tolls. He tried with Across the River and Into
the Trees but did not make it. The critics were right; it was
a poor novel. Buck Lanham could not have been happy with
the hero, who was partly modeled on him. The only
redeeming passages in this book are those about the fighting
in the Huertgen Forest, which convey the confusion and
terror of this battle. Hemingway ruins this, however, by
having his middle aged hero relate these experiences to a
young girl who is asleep beside him.
Perhaps Hemingway's experiences with the 4th were simply
too much for him and he simply could not work on such a
large canvas. Furthermore, the events in which he
participated did not lend themselves to being told to a young
woman over dinner and in bed.
In any event, the 4th Division was fortunate to have these
two Ernests with it, and I regret that only one of them spent
time with the 8th Regiment. The tragedy was that, although
so different, they shared a common fate. Both died a violent
death. Pyle, unable to resist the beckoning of the war he
hated, found death waiting for him on Ie Shima, a small
Pacific island. Hemingway survived the war but was unable
to cope with the terrible struggle which raged within him.
One bright Sunday morning in 1961, he placed a double-
barrel shotgun against his forehead and pulled both triggers.