Byron Darnton

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Byron Darnton (November 8, 1897 – October 18, 1942) was an American reporter and war correspondent for the New York Times in the Pacific theater during World War II.

He was killed in 1942 by a bomb dropped from an American B-25 Mitchell bomber, the tenth American war correspondent killed in action in the war. Darnton's work in reporting on the war in the Pacific was respected by military officials, including General Douglas MacArthur, who personally reported Darnton’s passing to the Times and Darnton’s widow.

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[edit] Journalism career

Darnton was born November 8, 1897 in Adrian, Michigan . His interest in journalism began in his teens when he and his family visited his uncle Charles Darnton, a drama critic for Joseph Pulitzer's Evening World in New York, New York.[1] After leaving high school in 1917, Darnton signed on with the American Expeditionary Force and served in World War I[2] before returning to the United States and entering the University of Michigan.

The Sandusky Herald in Sandusky, Ohio provided Darnton’s entry to the newspaper industry, followed by a stint at The Baltimore Sun. He also provided several short stories to The Smart Set magazine, then edited by H.L. Mencken. Mencken attempted to convince Darnton to shift his attention to writing fiction. Instead, he went on to write for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Evening Ledger, then in 1925 moved to the New York Post, where his work on the rewrite desk earned him the moniker "The All-American rewrite man."[1] Then, after a period as the Associated Press city editor in New York, he joined the staff of the New York Times in 1934.

[edit] With the Times

At the Times, Darnton was selected to establish the newspaper’s “Review of the Week” section for a time, but in 1939 returned to reporting, and in 1940 began roving assignments that took him around the United States and eventually into the Pacific theater. During that period, he was married to Eleanor Choate and had two sons.

His first overseas assignment was in February 1941, when he was among the first correspondents to leave the United States for Australia. Once there, he took the first opportunity to move to forward bases in New Guinea. His reporting while based near Port Moresby included his characteristic wit through amusing anecdotes related by servicemen, and discussed the mood of the troops on the ground and their thoughts regarding the war and its future.[1]

On October 18, 1942, Darnton was at a forward operating base off the coast of New Guinea when he was caught in an accidental bombing by a B-25 and killed. His notebook, which was taken from his body by a fellow correspondent and returned to his son, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Darnton in 1976, ended with a question about the bomber that would end his life: “Jap or ours?”[3]

Darnton’s passing was marked by many other journalists and officials, including General Douglas MacArthur, who wired to the Times that “He served with gallantry and devotion at the front and fulfilled the important duties of war correspondent with distinction to himself and the New York Times and with value to his country.”[2] He was buried with full military honors at an Australian-American cemetery outside Port Moresby.

[edit] The Byron Darnton

In 1943, Darnton’s name was given to a 10,500-ton liberty ship that launched from Baltimore, Maryland to become one of 2,700 such ships built during the war. The ship was christened by his widow Eleanor and her sons, one of whom, Bob, wrote his name on the hull in crayon. The ship sailed a regular run to Murmansk through the remainder of the war, and in 1946 was beached on Sanda Island, off the coast of Scotland.[3] In 2003, a pub was opened on Sanda Island named the Byron Darnton; it is stated to be one of the two most remote pubs in the country.[4]

[edit] Famous quote

While author Leo Rosten is usually credited with the popular phrase “No man who hates dogs and children can be all bad,” used by him to describe comedian W. C. Fields, Darnton was in fact the first to use this phrase regarding an unknown man named Gastonbury.[5] Darnton used it in 1930 after a New York cocktail party, which was later reported in Harper's Monthly in 1937, two years before Leo Rosten used it at a banquet.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c -30- : A Gripping Account of 54 War Correspondents K.I.A. in WWII 1940-1945 by Doral Chenoweth, accessed November 5, 2007
  2. ^ a b Time, Nov. 2, 1942, accessed November 5, 2007
  3. ^ a b In the Name of the Father, John Darnton, New York Times, October 16, 2005, accessed November 5, 2007
  4. ^ An alternative tour of Scotland’s islands, Lisa Stephen, accessed November 5, 2007
  5. ^ Google Books, accessed November 5, 2007
  6. ^ Keyes, Ralph (1992). "1: Why We Misquote" (online excerpt). Nice Guys Finish Seventh p. 1. New York, NY: HarperCollins (via RalphKeyes.com). Archived from the original on 2007-08-15.