Bena Mae’s Kitchen: A Tribute to Ernie Pyle

President Harry Truman best summed up Ernie Pyle’s meaning to the World War II generation of Americans: "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told…. He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."

Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day June 6, 1944. That historic day will be forever locked in the memory of people of my generation. We are told that the night before the invasion of Normandy, General Eisenhower spent the night praying for the thousands of soldiers he knew would be killed the next day.

One of my cyber friends who lived in a rural part of England shares her memory of the evening before the invasion took place.

She said it was near suppertime when her father called the family outside to see what was happening in the sky overhead;  hundred and hundreds of planes flying in formation. "The sky was black with them," she said. "After they had gone, we went back inside and prayed for them. We knew something monumental was about to happen."

Back then we didn’t have the instant communication that we have today. We had to rely upon the newspapers which meant the news of the war was days old by the time we read about it. War correspondent Ernie Pyle, the friend of the foot soldier and beloved to his readers, became our link to our fighting men serving in Europe. He wrote honestly and poignantly of their hardships, their humor, and their many times heartbreaking experiences. We devoured his every word. 

 Pyle’s most famous column concerned the death of infantry Capt. Henry Waskow, who was exceptionally popular with his men. His body was brought down a mountainside by mule, and laid next to four others:

“The men in the road seemed reluctant to leave … one soldier came and looked down, and he said out loud, ‘God damn it.’ That’s all he said and then he walked away …

“Then a soldier came and stood beside the officer and bent over, and he too spoke to his dead captain, not in a whisper but awfully tenderly, and he said: ‘I sure am sorry, sir.’

“Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead hand in his own, he sat there for a full five minutes … looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there.

And then finally he put the hand down, and then reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain’s shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight, all alone.

Ernie Pyle, Friend of the Ordinary Soldier.  He would ask for no greater epitaph.

A good reason to go blackberry picking.

Blackberry Slump

4 cups fresh blackberries (1 1/2 lb)

1 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Accompaniment: vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375°F.

 Put berries in an ungreased 5- to 6-cup gratin dish or deep-dish glass or ceramic pie plate and sprinkle evenly with 3/4 cup sugar.

 Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar into a bowl. Add milk and butter and whisk until smooth, then pour over berries (don’t worry if berries are not completely covered).

 Bake slump in middle of oven until top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool 20 minutes. Serve warm.

 Makes 4 to 6 servings.