Pyle’s adopted city honors his memory
Memorial service held in Albuquerque
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (UP) – Residents of Ernie Pyle’s adopted city paid final tribute to the famed war correspondent yesterday with a memorial service in Carlisle Gymnasium on the University of New Mexico campus.
More than 3,500 persons, including Mr. Pyle’s widow, attended the service. They heard a military chorus from nearby Kirtland Field sing a group of Ernie’s favorite songs.
Sgt. William Teets of Kirtland Field, who had met Mr. Pyle overseas, spoke briefly for G.I. Joe.
He said:
No man has been able to express our feelings to you as Ernie did. His columns were our letters home. He could tell our parents, our wives and children, the nation’s lawmakers and factory workers, what we felt because he was there experiencing it too.
At the conclusion of the service, three B-29s flew low down the city and dipped their wings in a final salute to the beloved reporter who was killed on Ie Shima last month.