Tributes thumb|175px|right|The Ernie Pyle Boeing B-29 The employees of Boeing-Wichita, through the 7th War Loan Drive, paid for and built a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named the "Ernie Pyle," which was dedicated on May 1, 1945. Initially assigned to the Second Air Force at Kearney Air Force Base, the B-29 named in Pyle's honor, Serial Number 44-70118, was sent to the Twentieth Air Force, Pacific Theater of Operations, on May 27, 1945. The plane was ferried to the Pacific theater by a crew under the command of Lieutenants Howard F. Lippincott and Robert H. Silver. The nose art was removed when the aircraft reached its intended operations base in the Pacific because the base commander thought it would become a prime target of the Japanese. The "Ernie Pyle" survived the war and was returned to the United States on October 22, 1945. It was stored at Pyote AAF, Texas, and disposed of as surplus on March 25, 1953. Shortly after his death, on Friday, April 27, 1945, the United States Maritime Commission announced (PR 2247) that a troop ship would be named after him SS Ernie Pyle. It was launched by Babette Johnson, his niece, in June 1945. It was used to transport refugees from Europe. During the American occupation of Japan, between 1945 and 1955, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater in downtown Tokyo was renamed the Ernie Pyle Theater, a site that was popular with many American G.I.s. Scripps-Howard Newspapers established the Ernie Pyle Memorial Fund in 1953 to support the Ernie Pyle Award. Beginning in 1953, the award is given annually to reporters who "most nearly exemplify the style and craftsmanship for which Ernie Pyle was known". The award is now known as the Excellence in Human Interest Storytelling Award (Honoring Ernie Pyle), and is part of the annual Scripps Howard Awards. The Indiana University board of trustees voted in 1954 to officially name the building that housed the IU School of Journalism on the Bloomington campus as Ernie Pyle Hall. The previous year, Sigma Delta Chi had placed a marker honoring Pyle at the east end of the building.Albright, p. 13. Ernie Pyle Hall is the present-day home of the Office of Admissions Welcome Center and the College of Arts and Sciences Center for Career Achievement. In 1970, Pyle's nephew, Bruce L. Johnson, placed a memorial plaque at Pyle's burial site at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl Crater, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. On May 7, 1971, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 16-cent postage stamp in Pyle's honor. Indiana University's annual Ernie Pyle Scholars Honors Program was established in 2006 for incoming freshman honors students majoring in journalism. In 2014, sculptor Tuck Langland 's bronze statue of Pyle was erected in front of Franklin Hall on the IU Bloomington campus. (The IU School of Journalism, the department of Telecommunications, and the Department of Communication and Culture also merged in 2014 to establish the IU Media School, which is housed in Franklin Hall) The first annual Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded in 2017 to a University of New Mexico journalism student. August 3, 2018, the inaugural National Ernie Pyle Day, was the result of a Congressional resolution drafted by the U.S. senators from Indiana, Joe Donnelly and Todd Young. Indiana governor Eric Holcomb also proclaimed August 3, 2018, as Ernie Pyle Day in Indiana.
Tributes thumb|175px|right|The Ernie Pyle Boeing B-29 The employees of Boeing-Wichita, through the 7th War Loan Drive, paid for and built a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named the "Ernie Pyle," which was dedicated on May 1, 1945. Initially assigned to the Second Air Force at Kearney Air Force Base, the B-29 named in Pyle's honor, Serial Number 44-70118, was sent to the Twentieth Air Force, Pacific Theater of Operations, on May 27, 1945. The plane was ferried to the Pacific theater by a crew under the command of Lieutenants Howard F. Lippincott and Robert H. Silver. The nose art was removed when the aircraft reached its intended operations base in the Pacific because the base commander thought it would become a prime target of the Japanese. The "Ernie Pyle" survived the war and was returned to the United States on October 22, 1945. It was stored at Pyote AAF, Texas, and disposed of as surplus on March 25, 1953. Shortly after his death, on Friday, April 27, 1945, the United States Maritime Commission announced (PR 2247) that a troop ship would be named after him SS Ernie Pyle. It was launched by Babette Johnson, his niece, in June 1945. It was used to transport refugees from Europe. During the American occupation of Japan, between 1945 and 1955, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater in downtown Tokyo was renamed the Ernie Pyle Theater, a site that was popular with many American G.I.s. Scripps-Howard Newspapers established the Ernie Pyle Memorial Fund in 1953 to support the Ernie Pyle Award. Beginning in 1953, the award is given annually to reporters who "most nearly exemplify the style and craftsmanship for which Ernie Pyle was known". The award is now known as the Excellence in Human Interest Storytelling Award (Honoring Ernie Pyle), and is part of the annual Scripps Howard Awards. The Indiana University board of trustees voted in 1954 to officially name the building that housed the IU School of Journalism on the Bloomington campus as Ernie Pyle Hall. The previous year, Sigma Delta Chi had placed a marker honoring Pyle at the east end of the building.Albright, p. 13. Ernie Pyle Hall is the present-day home of the Office of Admissions Welcome Center and the College of Arts and Sciences Center for Career Achievement. In 1970, Pyle's nephew, Bruce L. Johnson, placed a memorial plaque at Pyle's burial site at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl Crater, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. On May 7, 1971, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 16-cent postage stamp in Pyle's honor. Indiana University's annual Ernie Pyle Scholars Honors Program was established in 2006 for incoming freshman honors students majoring in journalism. In 2014, sculptor Tuck Langland 's bronze statue of Pyle was erected in front of Franklin Hall on the IU Bloomington campus. (The IU School of Journalism, the department of Telecommunications, and the Department of Communication and Culture also merged in 2014 to establish the IU Media School, which is housed in Franklin Hall) The first annual Ernie Pyle Legacy Foundation Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded in 2017 to a University of New Mexico journalism student. August 3, 2018, the inaugural National Ernie Pyle Day was the result of a Congressional resolution drafted by the U.S. senators from Indiana, Joe Donnelly and Todd Young. Indiana governor Eric Holcomb also proclaimed August 3, 2018, as Ernie Pyle Day in Indiana.