This paper chronicles the career of Floyd Gibbons
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This paper chronicles the career of Floyd Gibbons, one of the first modern war correspondents. A colorful character and keen observer of detail, Gibbons managed to provide compelling firsthand reports of a wide range of news events, from Pancho Villa's raids along the Mexican border to accounts of the front of the 1920 war between Poland and Russia, at which he was the only journalist present. His account of the German submarine attack that sank the British liner Laconia helped provide strong public sentiment for the United States' entry into World War II, and his heroic actions on the battlefield in France cost him an eye but earned him France's highest honor. A longtime reporter for the Chicago Tribune, his firing was as spectacular as his writing career. He eventually established a successful career as a radio correspondent; he was "The Headline Hunter" on NBC radio for many years. Ignoring persistent heart problems, he continued to report on conflicts around the globe. After his death, Gibbons became the first civilian ever to be made an honorary member of the United States Marine Corps, in recognition of his courageous journalistic efforts. Raphael Floyd Phillips Gibbons was born on July 16, 1887, in Washington, DC, the first of five children of Edward Thomas Gibbons and Emma Theresa Phillips Gibbons. His father ran a successful retail produce business, but later sold the business and moved the family to Minneapolis, where he started an even more successful tra
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hours and of his own rescue from the Irish Sea made him a global celebrity before his clothes were dry."
His 4,000-word account was widely reprinted and helped sway public toward involvement in the war. Emmet Crozier calls Gibbons "the first of a new crop of war reporters" and notes that, for Gibbons, "war was a grand adventure, and patriotism was merged with intense devotion" to the Tribune. Gibbons revelled in the excitement of the battlefield and sought out opportunities to join the soldiers in the middle of a fight.
On June 6, 1918, he found himself fully in his element, as an unarmed observer in the middle of Belleau Wood in France, pinned down by heavy German artillery with a brigade of American Marines. A man next to him suddenly found his hand shot off by the German guns, and then Gibbons himself was hit, shot first in the left arm, then in the left shoulder, and finally through his left eye. He lay on the battlefield, out of reach of medical attention, pretending to be dead, for the three hours it took for the sun to set.
Finally, under cover of darkness, one of his comrades helped him off the field, and they began the long trip to a hospital. Always the reporter, Gibbons paid close attention to the journey
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Approximate Word count = 1674
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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