WTIU will debut "Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches" at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The documentary will feature Pyle's life and work as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Producer and IU alumnus Todd Gould began work on the 90-minute documentary over a decade ago. Gould said some of initial interviews were conducted in the early 2000s, but the majority of his work was done in the last two years.
Historical records and photos were compiled to use in the documentary. Gould collaborated with people such as former CBS News anchor Dan Rather who is the narrator of the film. Jonathan Banks, an IU alumnus and actor, was chosen by Gould to play the voice of Pyle.
“There are many, many 18-20-hour days,” Gould said. “I’m very excited to see this come out. It’s taken many years to find every little clip of footage or a particular letter or photograph.”
Ernie Pyle enrolled at IU in 1919 after moving from Dana, his southern Indiana hometown. He took journalism courses while in school up until 1923 when he left IU to join the LaPorte Herald one semester before his graduation.
Associate professor emeritus Owen Johnson, who was consulted by Gould for the film, said IU played a vital role in Pyle’s prosperity despite his early departure from the school.
“He came here not really knowing the ways of the world, and by the time he left he was a big man on campus,” Johnson said.
From the time he left IU to his death near the end of World War II in Japan, Pyle never stopped reporting. His career migrated from La Porte to Washington until his time as a correspondent during the war. He reported on topics throughout his career ranging from aviation to human interest columns.
“He was the one that really kicked off a lot of that coverage, in terms of finding somebody who was a barber or a teacher or a doctor,” Gould said.
Pyle’s reporting during WWII focused more on infantry members while previous reporting had mainly cited generals or members from higher ranks. Johnson said this reporting had an extensive impression on the United States' understanding of the war, as his work is prominently published.
“If you look at any documentary or book about World War II, inevitably, there’s a quote from Pyle,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he has analyzed thousands of pages of Pyle’s work and personal letters. During his time teaching at IU, Johnson taught a class primarily on Pyle’s life and work.
Gould consulted many other historians and professors, such as professor Bonnie Layton, who has since taken over the class that Johnson once taught, to verify the contents of the documentary.
Gould also included faculty members from the Jacobs School of Music and help from the Archives of African American Music and Culture. Three IU students worked on the project as interns to help Gould track down historical documents and photographs.
“There were a lot of IU people involved,” Gould said. “It very much has IU’s fingerprint on it.”
Through this research, Gould dissected Pyle’s public persona and compared it to his personal life. Pyle maintained connections with many of his readers through letters, and these letters reveal a lot about Pyle’s social life, Johnson said.
Gould also said he hopes the nuances of Pyle’s life portrayed in the documentary will give its audience a better appreciation for Pyle’s work.
Following the WTIU debut, the documentary will be distributed to Indiana public television stations then nationally through American Public Television. In addition, the documentary will be released online for free streaming for a month following the release.
