Ray E. Boomhower
@rboomhower.bsky.social
Former reporter. Biographer of war correspondents Ernie Pyle, Richard Tregaskis, Malcolm Browne & Robert Sherrod. Writing biography about groundbreaking journalist Wallace H. Terry. https://rayeboomhowerbooks.com/
If all goes according to schedule (🤞), my biography about groundbreaking journalist Wallace H. Terry will be released by the @unmpress.bsky.social in early October 2026.
November 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
If all goes according to schedule (🤞), my biography about groundbreaking journalist Wallace H. Terry will be released by the @unmpress.bsky.social in early October 2026.
“I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness.”
Marilynne Robinson, born on this day in 1943
Marilynne Robinson, born on this day in 1943
November 26, 2025 at 2:48 PM
“I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness.”
Marilynne Robinson, born on this day in 1943
Marilynne Robinson, born on this day in 1943
Which World War II correspondent got the most boost from having his book turned into a movie? Was it Richard Tregaskis or Ernie Pyle?
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Which World War II correspondent got the most boost from having his book turned into a movie? Was it Richard Tregaskis or Ernie Pyle?
"I would advise all youths aspiring to athletic fame or a professional career to practice clean living, fair play and good sportsmanship."
Major Taylor, born on this day in 1878
Major Taylor, born on this day in 1878
November 26, 2025 at 12:25 PM
"I would advise all youths aspiring to athletic fame or a professional career to practice clean living, fair play and good sportsmanship."
Major Taylor, born on this day in 1878
Major Taylor, born on this day in 1878
"The only thing I really ever wanted to be was a cartoonist. That's my life. Drawing."
Charles M. Schulz, born on this day in 1922
Charles M. Schulz, born on this day in 1922
November 26, 2025 at 11:27 AM
"The only thing I really ever wanted to be was a cartoonist. That's my life. Drawing."
Charles M. Schulz, born on this day in 1922
Charles M. Schulz, born on this day in 1922
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
Cyril Connolly, who died on this day in 1974
Cyril Connolly, who died on this day in 1974
November 26, 2025 at 11:25 AM
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
Cyril Connolly, who died on this day in 1974
Cyril Connolly, who died on this day in 1974
"What I saw on Betio was, I am certain, one of the greatest works of devastation wrought by man. Words are inadequate to describe what I saw on this island of less than a square mile. So are pictures--you can't smell pictures."
Robert L. Sherrod, "Tarawa: The Story of a Battle"
Robert L. Sherrod, "Tarawa: The Story of a Battle"
November 25, 2025 at 7:33 PM
"What I saw on Betio was, I am certain, one of the greatest works of devastation wrought by man. Words are inadequate to describe what I saw on this island of less than a square mile. So are pictures--you can't smell pictures."
Robert L. Sherrod, "Tarawa: The Story of a Battle"
Robert L. Sherrod, "Tarawa: The Story of a Battle"
"Write your stories as you would tell them to people whose attention you want to catch. If you ramble, they get bored. The same is true with writing."
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/04/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/04/writ...
Writing Advice from the Indianapolis Times
From its start in 1888 until it ceased publication on October 11, 1965, the Indianapolis Times produced "lively and sometimes courageous jo...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
"Write your stories as you would tell them to people whose attention you want to catch. If you ramble, they get bored. The same is true with writing."
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/04/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/04/writ...
“He asked if I had more concern for the needs of my family than he had for his and what the reason was for the present system of special privileges for a few and ruthlessness to the majority.”
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-bu...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-bu...
"A Business Without a Boss": The Columbia Conserve Company
Three days before Christmas in 1917, workers at the Columbia Conserve Company , an Indianapolis canning plant that manufactured condensed so...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
“He asked if I had more concern for the needs of my family than he had for his and what the reason was for the present system of special privileges for a few and ruthlessness to the majority.”
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-bu...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-bu...
For those in the military thinking of following illegal orders, I bring you the story of Hoosier soldier Paul Meadlo and the My Lai massacre.
archive.org/details/Mead...
archive.org/details/Mead...
Meadlo Wallace Interview Nov 24 1969 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Interview with Mike Wallace and Paul Meadlo who participated in the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
archive.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
For those in the military thinking of following illegal orders, I bring you the story of Hoosier soldier Paul Meadlo and the My Lai massacre.
archive.org/details/Mead...
archive.org/details/Mead...
“Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that the mere fact of our existence should keep us all in a state of contented dazzlement.”
Lewis Thomas, born on this day in 1913
Lewis Thomas, born on this day in 1913
November 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
“Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that the mere fact of our existence should keep us all in a state of contented dazzlement.”
Lewis Thomas, born on this day in 1913
Lewis Thomas, born on this day in 1913
While recovering from being wounded by a German shell in Italy this month in 1943, Richard Tregaskis had visits from his fellow reporters, including Ernie Pyle. Pyle went on to write a column about Tregaskis, noting: “If I’d had his wound I would have gone home and rested on my laurels forever.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
While recovering from being wounded by a German shell in Italy this month in 1943, Richard Tregaskis had visits from his fellow reporters, including Ernie Pyle. Pyle went on to write a column about Tregaskis, noting: “If I’d had his wound I would have gone home and rested on my laurels forever.”
“There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.”
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
November 25, 2025 at 11:37 AM
“There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.”
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert."
Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835
Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835
November 25, 2025 at 11:17 AM
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert."
Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835
Andrew Carnegie, born on this day in 1835
“It was not unusual for a speech to go through half a dozen drafts, and some went through more. Rewriting sometimes merely honed language; sometimes it changed policy.”
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/10/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/10/writ...
Writing for the Governor: The Elks Club Group and Adlai Stevenson
During the summer and fall of 1952, John Bartlow Martin , a nationally known freelance reporter, traveled to Springfield, Illinois, to lend ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:28 AM
“It was not unusual for a speech to go through half a dozen drafts, and some went through more. Rewriting sometimes merely honed language; sometimes it changed policy.”
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/10/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2020/10/writ...
Top choice on my Christmas list.
(My mom threw my original one away.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6f...
(My mom threw my original one away.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6f...
Original Hasbro GI Joe Astronaut TV Commercial 1967-69 Retro Toy Ad Mission Splashdown Space Capsule
YouTube video by marksebiz marksebizs
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Top choice on my Christmas list.
(My mom threw my original one away.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6f...
(My mom threw my original one away.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6f...
"D.B. Cooper was 43 when we first heard his name
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
He told me that the hardest part
Wasn't really jumping out of that plane
It was spending the night
Watching those lights
Shine through the pouring rain"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNa...
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
He told me that the hardest part
Wasn't really jumping out of that plane
It was spending the night
Watching those lights
Shine through the pouring rain"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNa...
Todd Snider - D.B. Cooper LIVE 2008
YouTube video by vidziller
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
"D.B. Cooper was 43 when we first heard his name
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
He told me that the hardest part
Wasn't really jumping out of that plane
It was spending the night
Watching those lights
Shine through the pouring rain"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNa...
47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame
He told me that the hardest part
Wasn't really jumping out of that plane
It was spending the night
Watching those lights
Shine through the pouring rain"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNa...
"At best, the war correspondent can write what he sees and hears and feels; he can perhaps reflect the mood of men in battle, as those men appear and talk and fight.”
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/reporter-hel...
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/reporter-hel...
The Reporter Who Helped Persuade FDR to Tell the Truth About War | Essay | Zócalo Public Square
Betio, part of the Tarawa Atoll, is a small, bird-shaped island along the equator in the central Pacific. Early in the morning on November 20, 1943,
www.zocalopublicsquare.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
"At best, the war correspondent can write what he sees and hears and feels; he can perhaps reflect the mood of men in battle, as those men appear and talk and fight.”
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/reporter-hel...
www.zocalopublicsquare.org/reporter-hel...
"I was not sorry to leave the appalling wreckage of Betio and its 5,000 dead. I was thankful that I had lived through the toughest job ever assigned to the toughest outfit the U.S. has produced: the magnificent U.S. Marines."
Robert L. Sherrod after the Battle of Tarawa
Robert L. Sherrod after the Battle of Tarawa
November 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
"I was not sorry to leave the appalling wreckage of Betio and its 5,000 dead. I was thankful that I had lived through the toughest job ever assigned to the toughest outfit the U.S. has produced: the magnificent U.S. Marines."
Robert L. Sherrod after the Battle of Tarawa
Robert L. Sherrod after the Battle of Tarawa
How bad was it at the end of the Battle of Tarawa? Correspondent Robert Sherrod went ashore on day four after writing about his experiences: "As I walked up the pier, from the comparatively clean-smelling sea, the overwhelming smell of the dead hit me full in the face, and I vomited a little."
November 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
How bad was it at the end of the Battle of Tarawa? Correspondent Robert Sherrod went ashore on day four after writing about his experiences: "As I walked up the pier, from the comparatively clean-smelling sea, the overwhelming smell of the dead hit me full in the face, and I vomited a little."
". . . I believe it will be the best covered battle story of the war because I lived through every minute of it and I experienced it as thoroughly as anybody on the island did.” #Tarawa
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/10/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/10/writ...
Writing in Wartime: Robert L. Sherrod and Tarawa
Late in the afternoon of March 7, 1944, Robert L. Sherrod , a reporter who had been covering the war in the Pacific for Time and Life magaz...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
". . . I believe it will be the best covered battle story of the war because I lived through every minute of it and I experienced it as thoroughly as anybody on the island did.” #Tarawa
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/10/writ...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2017/10/writ...
“Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
November 24, 2025 at 11:17 AM
“Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
Baruch Spinoza, born on this day in 1632
"I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in."
Garson Kanin, born on this day in 1912
Garson Kanin, born on this day in 1912
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"I want everyone to be smart. As smart as they can be. A world of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in."
Garson Kanin, born on this day in 1912
Garson Kanin, born on this day in 1912
Did you never call? I waited for your call
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
November 23, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Did you never call? I waited for your call
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
The trees will bend, the cities wash away
The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
Mustered out of the U.S. Army on November 23, 1945, artist Harry A. Davis returned to Indiana, earning a faculty position at Herron, where he remained until his retirement in 1983.
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/03/sold...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/03/sold...
Soldier and Artist: Harry A. Davis Jr. at War
Situated on the Janiculum Hill, the American Academy in Rome has, since its establishment in 1894, been home to visiting scholars and artis...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Mustered out of the U.S. Army on November 23, 1945, artist Harry A. Davis returned to Indiana, earning a faculty position at Herron, where he remained until his retirement in 1983.
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/03/sold...
rayboomhower.blogspot.com/2022/03/sold...