THE PRESS OF BATTLE: THE GI REPORTER AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, by Jack E. Pulwers, Sr., Ph.D. Ivy House Publishing Group (Raleigh, N.C., 2003). 904 pp.

Reviewed by Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 12/4/03)

Over the last year, the collaboration of press and the military has once again become a major concern in this country. Embedded reporters and censorship have been topics of wide discussion as men and women are sent overseas, and they, as well as their family members, often times rely on the media when they cannot easily correspond with their loved ones.

Some may think that recent combat has included more news coverage and so-called embedded reporters than in the past.

Dr. Jack Pulwers, a parishioner at St. Timothy Church in Chantilly, explained that this is not so. The Press of Battle tells the story of the people who kept troops connected to their families, families connected to troops, and the entire country unified with its fighting men and women during World War II.

Pulwers tells the history of the military press and of the men and women who not only reported on the war but fought alongside the soldiers.

"Jack Pulwers has written a powerful and much-needed book on the oftentimes heroic exploits of the GI reporter. … The GI reporter was much more than a grunt transmitting the words of battle, but a true representation of the best of the American spirit," said Bob Dole, former Senate Majority Leader and World War II veteran, in his remarks on the book.

Although the Vietnam War was the first to be described as being fought in America’s living rooms, television "only showed isolated parts of war," said Pulwers. Unlike the notable reporters of World War II, such as Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin, "The people covering [the Vietnam War] didn’t know beans about what they were covering."

Pulwers started working on The Press of Battle about 30 years ago while studying for his doctorate in history at Catholic University. At the time he was chief of broadcasting and news supervisor for Armed Forces Television and Radio while working on his dissertation on the Army press and World War II.

He wanted to expand upon this central theme of his dissertation and gathered information from other branches of the armed forces for his book.

The book includes more than 300 photos and information from more than 375 interviews.

"It’s about time that someone came up with a book about the bravery and heroics of GI reporters, photographers and artists covering the news in World War II. Jack Pulwers in his Press of Battle has hit the nail on the head," said Bill Mauldin, world famous GI cartoonist, before his death earlier this year.

Pulwers’ background led to his interest in both the Second World War and the press.

Toward the end of World War II, Pulwers was an infantryman stationed in Texas. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Louisiana State University.

Before working for Armed Forces Television and Radio, Pulwers gained notoriety with WABC in New York. He interviewed President Harry Truman, asking him the questions everyone was scared to ask, such as questions about the MacArthur firing and the decision to drop the atomic bomb. "I saved your rear end, son," Truman told Pulwers who was being trained in a replacement battalion when the bomb was dropped on Japan.

On March 2, 1960, Pulwers was the first and only person to interview Elvis Presley as he arrived at Maguire Air Force base after serving overseas. He scored the first exclusive interview with all four of the Beatles on their inaugural trip to the United States in 1964.

He was the first white reporter to interview Malcolm X. "He seemed like a very decent guy," Pulwers said. "He said he wanted his people to be proud, be clean and not use drugs.

Pulwers took to the streets to cover the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 by talking to the average New Yorker.

Pulwers worked with a strong ethic of helping his listeners. He succeeded in campaigning to raise the wages for New York firemen, was the first reporter on the scene to cover Hurricane Audrey in Louisiana and helped get aid to victims and rebuild the area. He painted a road yellow to help prevent accidents when the transportation department wouldn’t do it.

"Radio has bested TV in covering the human side of news and features," said Pulwers. "I’m proud to have been part of that generation."

Pulwers sums up the purpose and theme of his book in the first paragraphs of his introduction: "They were educated in the tough milieu of battle, some of whom lost their lives or were wounded like their combat comrades. They had seen death and wrote about it firsthand. … These men and women lived in the days and times of people of valor in the last of the great wars, where censorship was a valid and forgivable principle of journalism, mostly voluntary, mostly accepted, and tolerated.

"These were the GI journalists of World War II…"

The Press of Battle: The GI Reporter and the American People is available through all major book retailers or by calling Ivy House Publishing Group at 1-800-948-2786.