Ernie Pyle USAR Center

Fort Totten, Bayside, New York

The Ernie Pyle USAR Center at Fort Totten was built in 1982-1984 to serve as the new headquarters of the 77^th USARCOM.  It was dedicated to the famous WWII war correspondent, “Ernie” Pyle (Ernest Taylor Pyle), at a ceremony hosted by MG William F. Ward, Jr., Commanding General, 77^th ARCOM, outside the mostly finished building on 23 April 1983.  General Ward, who was a member of our Association, passed away in 2018.  Click here to view the official invitation to this ceremony.

Soldiers and Dignitaries Approaching Dedication Ceremony

Ernie Pyle, who was born on 3 August 1900, was killed at Ie Shima by enemy machine gun fire on 18 April 1945, while he was embedded with the 305^th Infantry Regiment, 77^th Infantry Division, and covering the invasion of Okinawa for American newspapers.  He had earlier won a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in 1944 for his coverage of the war in the European Theater.

Originally announced in 1982 and planned for 18 April 1983, which would have been the 38^th anniversary of Pyle’s death, the dedication ceremony was actually held five days after that anniversary.  At that ceremony, a bronze plaque in his honor was unveiled; it later was placed on the wall of the foyer inside the entrance to the building, where it now rests.

 

Memorial Plaque Inside Entrance

During the ceremony, which was attended by approximately 200 Soldiers and dignitaries, a Purple Heart medal was awarded posthumously to Pyle and presented to his surviving cousin, Esther Campbell, by MG Ward and BG Harry J. Mott, III, who is a member of our Association.

L. to R.: BG Mott, Ms. Esther Campbell, MG Ward

 

Click here to view additional information about Ernie Pyle, in a prospective article about the building dedication, excerpted from the Spring/Summer 1982 issue of Headquarters Happenings, originally published by the 77^th ARCOM.