Profiles in History: Floyd Gibbons: The Adventurous Reporter

American reporter and war correspondent Floyd Gibbons, who lost an eye covering the World War I battle of Belleau Wood. (Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)

Floyd Gibbons (1887–1939) loved to write about his experiences because his experiences were often exhilarating. Growing up at the turn of the 20th century, Gibbons was born at the perfect time for great adventures. In a way, he hastened the approach of his adventures when he was expelled from Georgetown University.

Failing to obtain his law degree, he began his career as a newspaperman. In 1907, he joined the Minneapolis Daily News to cover the police beat report. After he was fired from that position, he joined the Milwaukee Free Press and then the Minnesota Tribune.

He quickly proved he would do most anything to get his hands on a good story and be the first to tell it. In 1910, he was arrested for cutting a competitor’s telegraph wire in order to keep them from covering a story before he did. He once slipped into a man’s house who was having a shootout with officers, just so he could interview him.

In 1912, he joined the heralded Chicago Tribune. Within a few years, he had made a name for himself, especially when he joined Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1915 at the time he was being hunted by the U.S. Army.

In March of 1916, he incidentally became a war correspondent when he reported that Pancho Villa had invaded Columbus, New Mexico. He joined Gen. John J. Pershing’s army the following year in what became known as the “Mexico Expedition.” The expedition ended Feb. 7, 1917.

Ten days later, he was on the Cunard ocean liner SS Laconia to be the Tribune’s London correspondent. On Feb. 25, the ship was hit by a German torpedo off the Irish coast. It was a stupendous way to wet his proverbial feet covering the war in Europe.

The Laconia had 292 people on board, 75 of whom were passengers. Twelve people were killed and two were American citizens. Gibbons was able to get on a lifeboat, which floated at sea for six hours until it was picked up by a British minesweeper.

Floyd Gibbons was aboard the SS Laconia when it was sunk in 1917. (Public Domain)

According to Gibbons, he began writing his 4,000 word telegram correspondence for the Chicago paper “within thirty minutes after stepping on the dock here in Queenstown.”

The story was a sensation in the States. America had been inching toward war, especially after the Germans resumed their unrestricted submarine warfare. The loss of two American lives and the emotionally laden reporting by Gibbons helped nudge the country closer to declaring war. It would do so less than two months later.

Since Gibbons was already in Europe and had nearly been killed by the Germans, it only made sense to have him cover the war. In June of 1918, the Americans were fully engaged in the war. In one of the more famous battles in American history, Gibbons had an even closer shave with death than the Laconia sinking.

Floyd Gibbons wrote about his eye-witness account of the sinking of the Laconia, which made top news in 1917. (Public Domain)

During the Battle of Belleau Wood, Gibbons and Lt. Oscar Hartzel of the Intelligence Division wanted to join the Fifth Marine Corps. They were warned by Maj. Benjamin S. Berry, the battalion commander, that the area was “hotter than hell” and they should head back to safety. Gibbons being Gibbons preferred to stay, as did Hartzel.

When the company advanced, a German machine gun nest opened up. Berry’s hand was shot off. He remained standing, possibly in shock. Gibbons and Hartzel had immediately dropped to the ground. The reporter yelled for Berry to get on the ground.

In Gibbons’ biography, “Floyd Gibbons - Your Headline Hunter,” the harrowing story is described as follows:

“Trying to hide his movement from the German machine-gunners, Floyd crawled along, his left cheek hugging the ground and his helmut pushed over the right, partly covering his face on that side. Floyd had gotten but a few feet when a bullet hit him in the left arm, just above the elbow, going in one side and out the other. He continued to push himself forward. A few moments later another bullet hit him in the left shoulder blade, still he inched on. Another five feet along, a third bullet hit him, it ricocheted off a rock in the ground, and with an upward course ripped out his left eye, continued on, making a compound fracture of the skull, and finally coming out on the right side of his helmet where it blew a hole three inches long.”

A miracle of miracles, Gibbons lived. In fact, he never lost consciousness. He had to wait three hours for nightfall in order to move again. Hartzel helped him escape the battle zone, and by another miracle he made it to a field hospital before bleeding out.

Floyd Gibbons quickly proved he would do most anything to get his hands on a good story and be the first to tell it. (Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)

Gibbons would live to see the war come to an end. He would venture back to the war zone to cover the invasion of Ethiopia in 1932 by Mussolini’s Italian Army.

In 1939, he was planning to leave America to go back to Europe and cover the outbreak of World War II only to be stopped by a fatal heart attack.