My father, who served in the So.West Pacific, was always asked whether he was kin to Ernie. The story in our family (which is from E. Tennessee) is that Ernie was a third cousin - whatever that means. There is an eerie resemblence between Ernie and members of our line. My dad recalled that Ernie often ticked off some of the troops in New Guinea and the Phillipines when he wrote how much more fortunate soldiers in the Pacific were than the troops freezing in France and Belgium. Pyle won them over before he died. My mother was wearing a black dress by chance on the day news reached the States that a Jap sniper had killed Ernie on Ie Shima. She walked into a bank in San Francisco to cash a check, which she endorsed Mrs. E. C. Pyle. There was much staring and whispering until she mentioned to the teller that her husband was a captain of engineers. Ernie's genealogy is a bit murky. As far as I know, he has never been connected with an English immigrant (such as the three brothers; Ralph, Nicholas and Robert). This (along with the tale told in my family and the resemblence - high forehead, long nose) has led me to believe that Ernie's family were originally German - Pfeil as opposed to Pyle or Pile. The Pyle book claims that Ernie's family denied any connection with hillbilly Pyle families in the South. Charles Pyle Richmond, VA