List: 7 best American war reporters

Conflict: World War II

Awards/Recognitions: Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence

Corresponded for: Scripps & Howard newspapers

Ernie Pyle gave his life to show others the sacrifices that soldiers had to make during the war. He embedded with Army’s 77^th Infantry Division in Ie Shima, an island off the coast of Okinawa and was killed when a jeep carrying him and three officers came under fire by a Japanese machine gun. He took cover in a roadside ditch, but was killed instantly when he raised his head.

Conflicts: World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War

Awards/Recognitions: United States Army Campaign Ribbon, Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting

Corresponded for: New York Herald Tribune 

Respected by members of the US military and the American public alike, Higgins was admired for her determination and courage. She was known for her firsthand accounts from the frontlines of the Korean War and her coverage concentration camps at the end of World War II, in particular.

Conflict: Vietnam War

Awards/Recognitions: Oscar-nominated writer (Full Metal Jacket)

Corresponded for: Esquire magazine

The writer and the mind behind the films Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now, Herr is also the author of Dispatches — all of which gave accounts of soldiers during the Vietnam War during his time as a correspondent.

Conflict: World War II

Awards/Recognitions: Peabody Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Alfred I. Dupont Award, Paul White Award

Corresponded for: CBS Broadcasting

Greensboro’s own Edward R. Murrow gave eyewitness reports for CBS and put himself at risk frequently, transmitting from a rooftop during the bombing of London. He was the first to incorporate ambient sounds into his broadcasts, allowing listeners to hear the news as it was happening. After the war, Murrow also served as vice president of CBS and was hailed as an American media hero.

Conflict: World War II

Awards/Recognitions: Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, Bronze Star  (US Armed Forces), Pulitzer Prize for Literature

Corresponded for: PM New York Daily, Toronto Star & Colliers

Ernest Hemingway, a renowned author and journalist, served in World War I as an ambulance driver for the Italian Army. He later served as correspondent during World War II, during the D-Day landing. He wrote The Old Man and Sea, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.

Conflict: War on Terrorism

Awards/Recognitions:  Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award (posthumously), Lyndon B. Johnson Moral Courage Award (posthumously)

Corresponded for: the Wall Street Journal 

Daniel Pearl co-founded the student newspaper at Stanford University. He later became the Wall Street Journal‘s bureau chief in South Asia, where he uncovered that the US accidentally bombed a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, mistaking it for a weapons factory. Later in Pakistan, where he was trying to uncover the more about the shoe bomber Richard Reid, he was abducted and subsequently murdered.

Conflict: Syrian civil war

Awards/Recognitions: The James Foley Scholarship and the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation were later formed in his honor

Corresponded for: Freelance photojournalist with bylines in GlobalPost, Agence France-Presse and the military newspaper Stars and Stripes

James Foley’s interest in conflict journalism was fueled by his compassion for people in war-torn countries. Foley spent considerable time in Syria covering the civil war until he was captured by ISIS militants and beheaded.