June 28, 2002

At Least They Didn't Call Him Gomer

By COURTNEY LOWERY

Folks at Ernie Pyle's alma mater, Indiana University at Bloomington, were ecstatic when they heard that the famed war correspondent was going to be a G.I. Joe action figure -- until they saw the package he came in. Pyle, claimed the toy's manufacturer, had attended journalism school at Indiana State University. Oops.

"There was some excitement," says Owen V. Johnson, an Indiana University journalism professor, "but more dismay because of the way it was packaged."

The toy