Harold V. “Hal” Boyle was one of this century's best known and most popular journalists. For almost thirty years his syndicated columns were among the most widely distributed features within the Associated Press system. As a correspondent who covered World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, Boyle's renown was second only to Ernie Pyle, and in 1945 the excellence of his day-to-day coverage of World War II earned him a Pulitzer Prize.
Boyle was born February 21, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. He began his career in journalism in 1928 as a copy boy for the Kansas City Star. In 1932 he graduated from the school of journalism of the University of Missouri, his scholastic ability earning him a year of graduate study in English at that same institution. In 1933 Boyle began his long career with the Associated Press, and he moved rapidly through a succession of increasingly responsible positions in the bureau offices in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis, Missouri. In 1937 the AP promoted him to night city editor in the New York City office. That same year Boyle married Mary Frances Young who was later to become almost as famous as her husband through his columns.
After the United States entered World War II, Boyle requested overseas duty, and in the fall of 1942, the AP designated him to accompany the North African invasion forces. Boyle waded ashore under fire on November 8, 1942. This was, however, only the first of many times he was to be in physical danger in the course of his efforts to report the news.
In addition to his responsibilities for reporting the news (he frequently issued one dozen bulletins per day) Boyle also wrote a daily column entitled “Leaves from a War Correspondent's Notebook.” A highly popular feature, this column viewed the war from the point of view of the ordinary G.I. In 1943 Boyle accompanied the U.S. troops to Sicily and participated in the Italian campaign. During the spring of 1944 he returned to the United States to serve as technical advisor and to play himself in the film, The Story of G.I. Joe. Although he was not permitted to observe the D-Day landing, Boyle joined the Allied forces several weeks later and subsequently carried a major burden in reporting the final months of the European war for the Associated Press.
After VE Day the AP sent Boyle to the Pacific where he arrived in time to witness the surrender ceremony on the Missouri. His trip home was an extended journey that took him through the Far East to India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Germany and finally the United States in order to record his observations of the post-war world. By 1947 Boyle had returned to New York where he continued to develop the format of his column, by then known as “The Poor Man's Philosopher.” So popular was this column to become that ultimately it was carried by more dailies than any other column in the country.
Boyle volunteered for overseas duty during the Korean conflict, once again reporting spot news and continuing his human interest column. The column attracted a wide audience and was so influential that in December, 1951, General Charles Willoughby, General Douglas MacArthur's intelligence chief, cited Boyle as one of six correspondents responsible for widespread “misunderstandings and prejudices” about the war. With this exception, however, reaction to Boyle's column was almost unanimously favorable. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, in 1951 Boyle received the VFW's Omar N. Bradley award for contributions to national security and the Overseas Press Club's award for journalistic excellence, many other civic and journalistic honors, and his columns were frequently reprinted.
Boyle retired because of illness in March, 1974, and died on April 1, 1974.
