World War II · Film · 1945
The Story of G.I. Joe
War correspondent Ernie Pyle follows a green infantry company from its first defeat in Tunisia to the mud and caves in front of Monte Cassino, writing about the ordinary soldiers who do the fighting.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Kasserine Pass, Tunisia
Pyle joins the company on its way to the front, and its baptism of fire turns into a chaotic, bloody defeat.
Stop 2: Hill town near San Pietro Infine, Italy
Months later Pyle finds the company, now hardened veterans, clearing a German-held Italian town house by house.
Stop 3: Before Monte Cassino, Italy
Key location
Stuck in front of the monastery hill, the men live in caves through rain, shelling and endless patrols, and the losses mount.
What really happened
Ernie Pyle was America's best-known war correspondent, writing about enlisted men rather than generals; he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. He covered the defeat at Kasserine Pass in February 1943 and then the Italian campaign, where the Allies spent the winter of 1943-44 stalled before the Gustav Line in rain, mud and mountains. The Italian scenes draw on his time with the 36th Division at San Pietro in December 1943 and with troops at Cassino.
His most famous column described soldiers bringing down the body of Captain Henry Waskow, killed on Monte Sammucro above San Pietro on 14 December 1943, the basis for Lieutenant Walker. Monte Cassino fell only on 18 May 1944. Pyle was killed by a Japanese machine gunner on Ie Shima on 18 April 1945, about two months before the film's release, and many of the extras were real veterans of the Italian campaign.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- The Story of G.I. Joe
- Directed by
- William A. Wellman
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Released
- 1945
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Combat
- Biography
- True story
