Push gains ground to honor Ernie Pyle with national day

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A push to honor acclaimed World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle with a national day of recognition is gaining steam in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, who represents northeastern Indiana's 3rd District, is preparing a resolution similar to one Indiana's two senators recently introduced.

The resolution penned by Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young seeks to make Aug. 3, 2018, National Ernie Pyle Day.

Owen Johnson is the author of "At Home With Ernie Pyle." He tells The Herald-Times Pyle became a wartime household name by reporting on infantry soldiers' experiences, rather than battles.

Johnson says Pyle's reporting gave readers a much better sense of what it was like to be in the war.

The Indiana-born journalist was slain by a Japanese sniper in 1945 on a Pacific island.

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com