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Pyle has been a roving reporter ever since, prowling around the U.S., Canada, Alaska, South and Central America by train, ship, plane, horseback but mostly by auto, and writing chatty, personalized copy, always digging out the ignored and ignoring the obvious.
The first hints of the fame that was ahead for Pyle came in 1940, when he went to England to write about the wartime doings of people there. His dispatches about the great fire-bombing of London in December 1940 were milestones of graphic journalism, later were published in book form (Ernie Pyle in England). Pyle returned to the U.S. in 1941, prowled around the country some more, finally booked Clipper passage for Hawaii. At the last minute his booking was canceled to make room for some China-bound propellers. While Pyle cooled his heels in San Francisco, his Clipper reached Hawaii just as Jap bombs began to fall on Pearl Harbor.
In mid-1942 he went to England and Ireland again to write about American soldiers stationed there. He followed some of those same soldiers into North Africa. His present plan: to stay in North Africa awhile, to decide where he will go next only when he knows where the news will be hottest next. He is restless already.