personality of, 15, 37
physical appearance of, 36
postwar reunions and, 450
postwar visits to Europe by, 25, 405–6
on preinvasion mobilization, 252
on 60 Minutes, 448
sports column by, 423–24
Stewart and, 162–63
on V-E Day, 438
visit to U.S., 403–5, 423
wartime mementoes of, 437, 448–49
Weaver story and, 174
writing mentors of, 250–51
writing technique of, 51
Rooney, Brian, 448–49
Rooney, Margie, 317, 403, 423
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 4, 53, 62, 64, 75, 77, 78, 81, 85, 93, 100–2, 126, 137, 139, 149, 173, 191, 219, 228, 334, 443, 448
Roosevelt, Theodore, 39, 79, 100
Roosevelt, Theodore, Jr., 100
Root, Waverly, 324
Rosmarino River, 179
Ross, Harold, 30, 43, 45, 67, 91, 169
Routh, Ross N., 202
Royal Air Force (RAF), 125, 126, 164, 167, 315, 330
Ruhr Valley, 381, 389
Rundstedt, Gerd von, 258, 303, 329, 416, 429
Runyon, Damon, 375
Russell, Ned, 383
Russian female prisoners, 355–56
Ruthie II (B-17 Flying Fortress), 174, 175
Ruthman, Bob, 36–37, 403
Ryan, Cornelius, 421
S for Sugar (B-17 Flying Fortress), 6, 144, 145, 157
Safi, Morocco, 83
St.-André-de-l’Épine, 296
St.-Lazaire, France, 401
St.-Lô, 272, 288, 291, 293, 296, 297, 301–8, 335, 359
St.-Malo, France, 328–29
St. Mars-le-Brière, France, 355
St.-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, 288, 323
St. Tropez, France, 338, 339
Ste.-Mère-Église, France, 271
Saipan, 287
Saiz, Reinaldo J., 145
Salerno, Italy, 17, 214, 219–22, 224, 236, 237
Salisbury, Harrison, 5, 50, 56, 80, 117, 126–27, 136, 145–47, 246–47, 256, 351, 453
San Fratello, Sicily, 179, 180, 188
San Pietro Infine, Italy, 214, 230–35, 442
San Stefano, Sicily, 202, 205, 206, 209
Sant’Agata, Sicily, 179, 180, 188
Sardinia, 193
Sayers, Darwin, 22
Scalisi, Bernard, 335
Schelde estuary, 391
Schlieben, Karl-Wilhelm von, 271, 286–87
Schweinfurt-Regensburg, Germany, 155, 158–59
Scoglitti, Sicily, 195, 202
Scott, Denton, 133, 142–43
Scott, George C., 78
Scripps Howard, 23, 26, 77, 91, 94, 95, 292
Sebu River, 85, 86
See River, 329
Seine River, 353, 364, 365
Sele River and Valley, 214, 222, 223
Selective Service, 52
Sélune River, 329
Semmes, Harry, 86–87
Semmes, Raphael, 86
Sevareid, Eric, 19, 26, 41, 218, 247, 248
Shackeroo (B-17 Flying Fortress), 166–67
Sheehan, Neil, 453–54
Sheets, Colleen, 443
Sheets, Robert W., 1, 2, 5, 21–22, 443
Sheridan, Ann, 142
Sherman, William Tecumseh, 202
Sherman tanks, 234, 322, 392, 395, 428
Shigemitsu, Mamoru, 441, 443
Shoo Shoo Baby (B-17G Flying Fortress), 1–6, 8–9, 21–22
Sicilian campaign, 12, 17, 92, 99, 102, 104, 112, 177–211, 217, 236, 442
Siegfried Line, 44, 381, 394–96, 401, 408
Siler, Tom, 268
60 Minutes, 67, 448
Small, Collie, 248, 269, 422, 423
Small, Parley D., 124
Smith, Bedell, 421–22
Smith, Roy Q., 157
Soldier’s Story, A (Bradley), 460
Soviet Union, 52, 76, 396, 419, 434–35
Spa, Belgium, 400, 413
Spaatz, Carl A. “Tooey,” 126, 127, 149, 154, 173
Spanish Civil War, 424
Speer, Albert, 446
Speidel, Hans, 329
Spitfires, 166, 244, 282
Stafford, Jean, 32, 461
Stalin, Joseph, 62, 76, 102, 246, 435
Stalingrad, 302, 328, 331, 448
Star shells, 287
Stars and Stripes, 6, 14, 16, 19, 51, 67–69, 108, 121, 128, 130, 133, 143, 146, 155, 159, 162, 188, 250–52, 260, 271, 293, 306, 322, 368–70, 375, 389, 390, 394, 401–3, 405, 423, 430–32, 437–38
Steele, John, 271
Steinbeck, John, 119
Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), 33
Stevens, Kermit D., 8
Stewart, Jimmy, 160, 162–63
Stewart, Ollie, 91
Stockton, Don, 156–58, 459
Stoneman, William, 255, 292
Story of G.I. Joe, The (movie), 260, 264–66
Strait of Messina, 208–9, 221
Strategic bombing, 126, 155, 173
Stripp, George E., 340–41
Struggle for Europe, The (Wilmot), 173
Stuka dive-bombers, 103, 105
Stultz, Irwin, 58–60
Sturmstaffeln (“storm squadrons”), 163
Submarine warfare, 4, 53–54, 60, 69–71, 80, 82, 83, 87–88, 267
Suez Canal, 77, 104
Sulzberger, Arthur, 149
Summers, William B., 411
Summersby, Kay, 135
Tabacchificio Fioche, Italy, 222
Talese, Gay, 460
Taormina, Sicily, 208
Tarawa, 302, 448
Task Force 34, 78–79, 81–83, 89
Taves, Brydon, 4
Taylor, Maxwell, 383, 421–23, 429
Tebbel, John, 449
Tedder, Sir Arthur, 173
Tedrow, Odell, 188–90
Thekla slave labor camp, 433, 446
Thélepte, Tunisia, 98–100, 109
Thobro, Clayton C., 340
Thompson, Jack “The Bear,” 26, 110, 292, 431–32, 434, 437, 449
Thrasher, Charles B., 228
Thurber, James, 447
Thurleigh air base, England, 128, 133, 159, 164, 248
Tibenham air base, England, 162, 163
Tiger tanks, 184, 389, 419, 421, 428
Time, 91, 177, 373–74
Tojo, Hideki, 52–53
Tokyo, Doolittle raid on, 53, 118
Torpedo Junction, 4
Toulon, France, 338, 340
Treanor, Tom, 26, 177, 182, 185–87, 260, 264, 266, 358–59, 373
Tregaskis, Richard, 425
Trillin, Calvin, 451
Triumph of the Will (movie), 446
Troina, Sicily, 99
Truman, Harry S, 40
Truscott, Lucian, 75, 84, 86, 87, 179, 184, 185, 188, 195, 202
Tulagi, 81
Tunisia, 75, 82, 92, 93, 98–100, 101, 103–9, 112–16
Turkey, 218, 224
Turner, Lana, 162–63
Twelve O’Clock High (movie), 175–76
Typographical Error (B-26 Marauder), 168
Tyrrhenian Sea, 177, 183, 186, 208, 221, 236
Ugalde, Jesse, 180
Ulidjak. Mrs., 115–16
Ultra machine, 103, 193, 329, 417
Umphress, F. E. Jr., 4, 21
United Press (UP), 2, 4, 6, 7, 22, 26, 42, 43, 56, 62, 80, 81, 88–90, 119, 131, 133–35, 147, 148, 155, 201, 242, 244, 246–47, 253, 254, 260, 269, 279, 280, 292, 293, 398, 422, 426, 444, 445
U.S.-Canadian Devil’s Brigade, 337
U.S. Coast Guard, 9, 10, 12
U.S. War Department, 52, 56
Unterseebooten (U-boats), 4, 53–54, 60, 69–71, 80, 82, 83, 87–88, 267, 405–6
USS Arkansas, 56–62, 69, 79
USS Augusta, 23, 267
USS Brooklyn, 60, 63
USS Chenango, 83
USS Dallas, 86
USS Massachusetts, 80, 88
&n
bsp; USS Missouri, 203, 441
USS Monrovia, 192, 194–96
USS Philadelphia, 178, 184–86, 189
USS Roe, 58–59
USS Savannah, 83
USS Texas, 4, 79, 81–86, 88–89
Utah Beach, 15, 16, 24–25, 270, 272
V-1 and V-2 rockets, 272, 281–84, 286, 403, 436
V-E Day, 438, 442
V-J Day, 442
Valognes, France, 271–72, 323
Vanity Fair, 367
Vannes, France, 322–23
Vatican, 335
Vegesack submarine yard, Germany, 150–53
Venray, Holland, 390
Vessels, Jay, 222, 223
Veterans of Foreign Wars, 449
Vichy French, 76, 82, 92–93, 101, 112, 343, 344, 363, 371
Vietnam War, 450, 453–54, 456
Vire, France, 333
Vire River, 302
Vittoria, Sicily, 199
Volk, Harry, 406, 407
Volturno River, 218
Vouilly, France, 291–96, 307–14, 333, 345, 458–59, 460
Waco gliders, 379
Wade, Betsy, 34, 193, 209, 453
Wade, William, 133, 143
Wagner, Walter W., 181, 183
Wakefield (naval transport), 63–64, 79, 90
Walker, Fred L., 215
Wallach, Eli, 41
Warner, Karl C., 115–16
Washington Post, 96, 108
Waskow, Henry, 230, 265
Wassau, Hinda, 42–43
Watson, Jack, 5, 443–44
Watson, Theodore, 418
Weaver, Frances, 175
Weaver, Tyre, 174–76
Weber, William C., 215–16
Wellington bombers, 315
Wellman, William, 264–65
Werner, Doug, 131, 269
Wertenbaker, Charles, 373–74
White, E. B., 447
White, Katharine S., 30, 31
White, Wesley, 395
Whitehead, Don, 10, 26, 39, 75, 94, 177, 182, 184, 186, 187, 196, 197, 230–34, 260, 264–66, 268, 269, 272–75, 280, 288, 289, 359–62, 364, 439, 451
Whitehead, Marie, 264, 451
Whitman, Walt, 111
Whitney, John Hay “Jock,” 135, 155
Wilder, Roy, Jr., 30, 267, 323, 333, 345, 346, 357
Wilhelmina Canal, Holland, 380, 384, 389
Wilhelmshaven submarine yard, Germany, 122, 123, 143–49, 246, 256, 351, 455
Wilmot, Chester, 52, 173, 221, 243, 381
Wing and a Prayer, A (movie), 159
Winter Line, 217
Wise, Ben, 393
Wolfe, Tom, 457, 460
Women’s Auxiliary of the Brush-off Club, 230
Wood, Edward W., 302
Woodward, Stanley, 383–84
World War I, 53, 67, 102, 136, 171, 215, 218, 224, 329, 336, 390, 400, 417, 444
Wright, Ben, 285
Writing 69th, 26, 27, 135–36, 138–43, 148–49, 351, 449
Wyler, William, 65, 138, 141, 160, 162, 165
Yank magazine, 133
Zamperini, Lou, 424
Zera, Maxie, 439
Zhadov, Alexei, 435
Zon, Holland, 378, 381, 383
All five reporters went on combat missions in the skies over the Reich. Bigart, Cronkite, and Rooney flew on B-17s, which drew ferocious flak as they neared their targets. Cronkite was aboard the B-17 Shoo Shoo Baby on D-Day morning over Caen, Normandy.
Rooney, Bigart, and Cronkite all covered the savage raids against Nazi munitions factories. On October 9, 1943, B-17 bombers attacked a Focke-Wulf 190 factory near Marienburg in East Prussia.
Rooney (standing, left) was a more cheerful soul after joining Stars and Stripes in London in late 1942. His articles saluted the unsung heroes behind the scenes of the USAAF’s air war against the Nazis.
Rooney (left) poses with a crew from the Mission Belle, a bomber with the 385th Bomb Group, stationed in Great Ashfield, England. Rooney called air bases “damned depressing places to visit”; three-fourths of the U.S. airmen who flew on bombing missions in 1943 and the first half of 1944 became casualties of one kind or another.
Rooney stops to smell some flowers while leaning against heavy bombs stored at an airfield, probably at Thurleigh. He chose this photo as the cover for his memoir, My War.
The London edition of Stars and Stripes was essentially a USAAF journal from late 1942 through early 1944. Rooney’s mentor and writing partner, Bud Hutton, is on the left, Andy’s great pal Charlie Kiley in the middle.
Rooney, Cronkite, and Bigart never tired of extolling the heroism of air gunners. Rooney and his Stars and Stripes colleague Bud Hutton wrote a book about them.
Bigart carrying his bedroll and typewriter during the dispiriting Italian campaign of ’44. For writing the truth, Homer and other reporters incurred the wrath of Allied commanders Sir Harold Alexander and General Mark Clark.
A V-1 “doodlebug” like this one nearly killed Cronkite on Sunday, June 18, 1944. Instead of striking Cronkite’s apartment building, it landed next door at the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks near Buckingham Palace. More than a hundred Sunday worshippers were killed—the worst V-1 attack of the war.
Rooney was always proud of this photograph that he took of intrepid St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which, despite merciless bombing and rocket attacks, was never destroyed.
From a distance, Cronkite, Liebling, Boyle, and Rooney all saw V-2 rockets like this one being fired from their launching sites in the Reich. Unlike the V-1, which could be heard as it approached, the V-2 struck with no warning and could set an entire city block ablaze.
A D-Day predawn briefing at Thurleigh, Rooney’s “home” air base and the site of the 306th Bomb Group squad. Bigart and Cronkite covered the action at the 303rd base a few miles away at Molesworth. When they learned the invasion was finally on, men hooted and hollered.
Rooney with his great Stars and Stripes buddy and D-Day partner Charlie Kiley. The two reporters were billeted with the Fourth Division in Bristol Harbour, landing at Utah Beach four days after D-Day.
German soldiers are led out of a cavern in Cherbourg two and a half weeks after D-Day. The Nazi genius for underground architecture was uncovered during the Cotentin operation. Liebling, a connoisseur, helped fellow correspondents “liberate” particularly choice bottles of champagne and cognac.
A month after D-Day, American infantrymen slug their way through what Joe Liebling and historians called the bocage. GIs, Rooney remembered, called them “god-damn hedgerows.” The thick underbrush stymied the Allied advance for weeks.
Rooney took this shot of Major Tom Howie’s corpse lying in state atop the debris in St.-Lô, France, on July 18, 1944, the day Howie was killed helping to liberate the Norman village. The three-week siege at St.-Lô caused some forty thousand American casualties; it was covered from its inception by Rooney, Liebling, and Boyle.
Hal Boyle of the Associated Press (left), Ernie Pyle of Scripps Howard, Gordon Gammack of the Des Moines Register, and Don Whitehead (right) of the Associated Press pictured at Vouilly, Normandy, on the site of the First Army’s press camp in July and August 1944. Rooney called Pyle the camp’s “den mother.” It rained continually that summer.
Just days after the liberation of Paris in September 1944, Hal Boyle (left) and Ernie Pyle exchanged notes on the veranda of the Hôtel Le Grand with the Opera House looming in the background. Boyle and Pyle were the most popular columnists in the European Theater. Pyle won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944; Boyle in 1945. Seven months after this photo was taken, Pyle was killed by a Japanese sniper.
All five correspondents witnessed the reprisals that would take place against collaborationist women once villages were liberated. Nazi concubines had their heads shaved; collaborationist leaders and militiamen were often executed on the spot.
Stars and Stripes “Continental HQ,” probably in Rennes, France, in late summer 1944. Rooney’s great exclusive on the liberation of Paris
never reached Rennes—and never got into print.
August 25, 1944’the day Paris was liberated—was the happiest day in Francophile Liebling’s life. Liebling and Rooney were among the first correspondents into the freed French capital. Boyle was not far behind.
Rooney snapped this shot of GIs being greeted by delirious Frenchwomen on the day of the liberation of Paris. The locale was probably the Place de l’Opéra, where the correspondents were holed up at the Hôtel Scribe or the Hôtel Le Grand.
Rooney took this photograph of German prisoners being paraded through the streets of Paris. A few moments later, a Parisian smashed a bottle over the head of one of the prisoners. Rooney wrote that he’d never witnessed such hatred.
A wrecked American glider from ill-starred Operation Market Garden, September 1944. Cronkite crash-landed in Zon, Holland, on a glider carrying 101st Airborne general Anthony McAuliffe.
Close-in street fighting in the war’s final winter produced ghoulish scenes like this one in Deidenberg, Belgium, with German soldiers lying dead near an American tank.
A few weeks after the Battle of the Bulge, Brigadier General Clift Andrus took command of Liebling and Boyle’s favorite outfit, the Big Red One, the Fighting First Division. Boyle (left) got an exclusive with the general on February 3, 1945.
Andy Rooney was one of the first correspondents on the scene when the bridge over the Rhine at Remagen was captured intact. When it collapsed on St. Patrick’s Day 1945, this is the view Rooney saw from the bridge’s eastern end.
Cronkite finally returned home to Kansas City in December 1945 after three years of covering the war. This photograph was probably taken on the porch of his mother’s home. The following month he was back in Europe to cover the Nuremberg Trials.
A Stars and Stripes reunion in the 1960s. Charlie Kiley is to Rooney’s right. The great editor Bob Moora is directly across from Kiley. Bud Kane and Ben Price are to Rooney’s left.
A mid-1960s reunion of the fabled “Writing 69th.” Former USAAF media relations maven Hal Leyshon sits to Rooney’s right; to Leyshon’s right is former CBS correspondent Paul Manning. At the head of the table is former Associated Press correspondent Gladwin Hill, archrival of Cronkite (standing). Bigart sits to Hill’s left. Two other former USAAF officials, Jack Milady and Jack Redding, sit in front of Cronkite.
Assignment to Hell Page 60