He and seven other reporters flew bombing missions over Germany as part of "The Writing 69th". On one such mission to Wilhelmshaven in March 1943, the B-17 bomber formation in which he and fellow reporters Walter Cronkite and Gladwin Hill were flying suffered heavy losses to enemy fighters. He also covered the fighting in North Africa, Italy, and southern France. When Germany surrendered, he went to the Pacific and was one of the first reporters to enter Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.