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54 War Correspondents K.I.A. WWII
A Gripping Account of War Journalism 1940-1945 by Doral Chenoweth

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doral chenoweth
Press Officer
2nd LT Doral Chenoweth
Manila 1945
(Detached Assignment)

A Sad Sad Update
on War Reporting...

11NOV2004
During World War II when I compiled the biographies and collected the pictures of the 54 reporters killed in action, all were accredited for field service (meaning rations and quarters) with U. S. forces by ` the then War Department Public of Relations. Unlike those Government controls, reporters killed in action in the Iraqi action came from many nations and, more or less, were freelancers. This is the Associated Press story dated today - 11 November 2004:

"Fifty-four journalists were killed this year, making 2004 the deadliest year for the media in a decade. Iraq is the most dangerous place for journalists to work, with 23 killed this year, up from 13 last year."

The 54 killed in action during WW II covered a period from May 1940 to 18 April 1945 - Webb Miller of United Press to Ernie Pyle.


9 April 2003

Note the date: 21 days after the US-led "coalition" of nations started the march into Baghdad, Pentagon spokesman Tim Blair described the correspondents in tow as "a handful of the 600 or so embedded reporters" as part of the invasion force. The actual number "embedded," or "accredited" as we said during World War II, is 529, all with "rations and quarters" roving tickets issued by US Army General Guy Shields. He’s director of the Coalition Press Information Center in Kuwait.

Tagging along to cover the war in a land about the size of California, add 1,445 journalists covering the action as “unilaterals,” translated to mean undocumented, or the unwashed. Among the names in those two classifications - Ollie North; Geraldo Rivera and a Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an Atlanta doctor hired to do stand-up about his field surgery. North and Rivera were hired by the Government network, Fox News. Go figure.

In my war the beat was around the world. Theaters of operations were pegged to Europe, North Africa, the Pacific, and China-Burma. The War Department, Bureau of Public Relations, gave accreditation to 500 reporters.

Fifty four were killed in action. That’s a huge slice from the 500 who were “accredited for service (meaning for rations and quarters) with US Forces in the field.” This is their story related from the first death in May, 1940, to the last, Ernie Pyle, on 18 April 1945.

Doral Chenoweth
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PROTECTION: Filed with Writers Guild of America, 2003.
Renewed Copyright Pending

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