Last Chapter

Last Chapter, first published in 1946, is war correspondent Ernie Pyle's final book of his experiences in World War II. From Africa, Italy, and D-Day on the European continent, Pyle's accounts provided an intimate, honest look at the life of America's fighting men and the enemies they faced. In Last Chapter, , illustrated with 16 pages of photographs, Pyle travels to the Pacific, where he was assigned to the U.S. Navy. In the Marianas first, and then living with the crews who flew the B-29s over the Japanese homeland, Pyle was experiencing a side of the war that was new to him. Next he joined an aircraft carrier on the invasion of Okinawa. He made the landing with the Marines and saw Okinawa secured. Tragically, however, Pyle was killed by a Japanese bullet near the war's end on April 17, 1945, while reporting from the island of Ie Shima.

"No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told," wrote Harry Truman. "He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."