Don Whitehead (April 8, 1908 in Inman, Virginia - January 12, 1981) was an American journalist. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom. He won the 1950 George Polk Award for wire service reporting. He was awarded the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, and 1952 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.[1]
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He studied at University of Kentucky from 1926 to 1928.[2] He worked for newspapers in Lafollette Press and Harlan, Kentucky, Daily Enterprise beginning in 1928. He covered the Harlan County War. His worked for the Associated Press, beginning in 1935.
He covered World War II. He covered the Eighth Army in Egypt, for the AP in September 1942. He was transferred to the American Army in Algeria. He covered the Allied invasion of Sicily at Gela, with the First Infantry Division. He covered the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno, and the Italian campaign. He landed at Anzio in January 1944. He went to London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the 16th Regiment, of the First Infantry Division. He covered the push from the beachhead, Operation Cobra at Saint-Lô, and the pursuit across France. He got the first story on the Liberation of Paris. He covered the U.S. First Army into Belgium and into Germany, the crossing of the Rhine River. He covered the meeting of American and Russian troops on the Elbe River.[3]
He covered the Korean War, in 1950.[4] He was Washington bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune, in 1956. He was a columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel.[5] His book, The FBI Story was adapted into a 1959 film.
His papers are held at the University of Tennessee.[6]
He was married; they had a daughter.