On the 81st anniversary of his death, Mark and Irene DeVirgilio (TAL/ALA), CR Drumheller (TAL), Michele Hauser (TAL), Ron and Margie Williams (TAL & ALA) of Hawaii, and Robert and Mrs. Ewbank (TAL/ALA), Roger and Trudy Wallace, and friends of Indiana gathered at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu to honor Ernie Pyle, the cherished war correspondent who chronicled the lives of American soldiers in World War II.

Pyle chose to look where others didn't. In a war often defined by generals and grand strategies, he focused his typewriter on the mud-caked, exhausted and courageous infantryman. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War I, his empathy for the enlisted man was profound. He didn't report from the rear; he marched alongside troops in North Africa, Italy, Normandy and the Pacific, sharing their rations and their fears.

On April 18, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, Pyle's journey came to a sudden end. While on the island of Ie Shima with the Army's 77th Infantry Division, he was killed by enemy machine-gun fire. The soldiers he had dedicated his life to documenting felt the loss personally, erecting a simple sign that read: "At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle."

Today, Pyle rests in plot D 109 at the Punchbowl cemetery in Honolulu. There is no grand monument. His simple grave marker lies between those of two unidentified soldiers. It is a poignant, fitting tribute for a man who gave his life to tell the story of the ordinary GI. He remains, even in death, exactly where he always wanted to be: among the men. His legacy reminds us that the true cost of war is borne by the individual, a lesson as vital today as it was 81 years ago.

The exquisite tribute standing spray was sent from Gerald "Jerry" Maschino, executive director of the Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation.