Biographies:
Ernest Hemingway
Born/Death Date: 1899-1961
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway grew up with his father, a doctor who taught him the joys of hunting and fishing, and with his mother, a religious and musical woman. After high school Hemingway was eager to join in World War I, but he secured a job as a reporter for the Kansas City Star instead. Within a year Hemingway did work his way into the war as a lieutenant in the Red Cross, driving an ambulance on the Italian front. He was severely wounded in the knee when he was passing chocolates to troops.
After the war, Hemingway returned home and then went to Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star. There, he began his career as a writer.
During World War II, Hemingway's actual combat rivaled his stories. He searched out German submarines in his fishing boat, participated on missions with the Royal Air Force, and he attached himself to an irregular unit that preceded Leclerc's French force in the liberation of Paris.