On this date in 1950, New York Herald Tribune reporter Marguerite Higgins described the invasion of Inchon, Korea. She would be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting.
2002 U.S. stamp, Poynter.org Image
Here is an excerpt from Higgins’ story:
“Heavily laden U.S. Marines, in one of the most technically difficult amphibious landings in history, stormed at sunset today over a ten-foot sea wall in the heart of the port of Inchon and within an hour had taken three commanding hills in the city.
I was in the fifth wave that hit Red Beach, which in reality was a rough, vertical pile of stones over which the first assault troops had to scramble with the aid of improvised landing ladders topped with steel hooks.
Despite a deadly and steady pounding from naval guns and airplanes, enough North Koreans remained alive close to the beach to harass us with small-arms and mortar fire. They even hurled hand grenades down at us as we crouched in trenches, which unfortunately ran behind the sea wall in the inland side.”
The following Higgins biography comes from Syracuse University:
“Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966), pioneering newspaperwoman, columnist, and author, was best known for reporting from the front lines during the Korean War. Honored as the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of international affairs (1951), she had a long career with the New York Herald Tribune (1942-1963), and later, as a syndicated columnist for Newsday (1963-1965). She also wrote books on reporting, Korea, Russia and Vietnam, and contributed articles to several other newspapers and magazines including America, the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Mademoiselle, and McCall’s. She made television appearances on shows such as ‘Meet the Press’ and ‘Today.’ A frequently requested lecturer, she traveled as extensively inside the U.S. as abroad. She visited Vietnam several times, and while touring there in 1965 contracted leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease, which forced her to return to the U.S. where she died in Washington D.C. on January 3, 1966 at age 45. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.”
And this Marguerite Higgins quote can be found in the Poynter Institute courtyard: “I wouldn’t be here if there were no trouble. Trouble is news, and gathering it is my job.”
