From a Wall Street Journal review by Ben Yagoda headlined “‘The Soldier’s Truth’ Review:About Ernie Pyle, at the Front”:

In the later stages of World War II, Ernie Pyle was tagging along with some American troops who were in the process of securing the city of Cherbourg, in Normandy. During a lull in the fighting, crouched against some buildings, the correspondent and the soldiers got to talking. Pyle, as was his custom, started taking down the men’s names—and street addresses!—so he could put them into his column, which was syndicated in 400 American newspapers and 300 more on Sundays. Only it was pouring rain. So as he squatted down to write on his knee, each soldier would have to hold Pyle’s steel helmet over his notebook to keep it from being soaked.