Richard Tregaskis
Richard Tregaskis was an American war correspondent and author, renowned for his firsthand accounts during World War II. Born on November 28, 1916, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he began his writing career at a young age, contributing to local newspapers while studying at Harvard University. After graduating in 1938, Tregaskis worked at the Boston American-Record Advertiser and later joined the International News Service. His career as a war correspondent took off during World War II, where he reported from both the European and Pacific theaters, earning a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat.
Tregaskis is perhaps best known for his 1943 book, "Guadalcanal Diary," which detailed his experiences in the South Pacific and became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. He continued to write about military conflicts throughout his career, covering the Korean and Vietnam Wars and contributing articles to various magazines. Beyond his writing, he was also involved in screenwriting and documentary production. Tregaskis married three times and later focused on biographical work, including a book about John F. Kennedy. He passed away on August 15, 1973, while swimming in the Pacific Ocean near Honolulu. His legacy includes a significant contribution to war journalism and literature.
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Subject Terms
Richard Tregaskis
Writer
- Born: November 28, 1916
- Birthplace: Elizabeth, New Jersey
- Died: August 15, 1973
- Place of death: Near Honolulu, Hawaii
Biography
Richard Tregaskis was born on November 28, 1916, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His parents were Archibald Tregaskis and Maude M. Tregaskis, née Osterman. Tregaskis started his writing career at the age of fifteen, when he became the school correspondent for his local newspaper. While he studied at Harvard University, he followed the same practice, becoming the campus correspondent for Boston’s dailies.
After his graduation with honors in 1938, Tregaskis took a full-time position with the Boston American-Record Advertiser, which he held until 1941. That same year, he married his first wife, Marion Holmes, although the marriage would end in divorce in 1953. He worked for a year at the International News Service in New York before becoming a war correspondent, traveling throughout both the European and Pacific theaters of action during World War II. His work frequently took him into the line of fire, and he received a Purple Heart as a result of a wound he received in action.
In 1943, Tregaskis published Guadalcanal Diary, an account of his experiences in battles in the South Pacific, and it was so well received that it became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. He followed it with the 1944 Invasion Diary, about what he saw during the Italian campaign, written while he was recuperating from the injury that won him the Purple Heart. After the war, he became a screenwriter for Hollywood and was heavily involved in producing documentary movies relating to the war.
During both the Korean and Vietnam wars, Tregaskis traveled to the fighting fronts to cover the conflict, and also directed a documentary on the role of United Nations peacekeeping forces in postwar Korea. In addition to his war-correspondent work, his freelance assignments took him to many countries around the world. Tregaskis was a frequent contributor of articles to a wide variety of magazines, ranging from Newsweek and the Saturday Evening Post to Playboy and Esquire. In 1953, he married Walton Jeffords, a photographer, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1963, at which time he married Moana Maharam Stone, an anthropologist and photographer.
After the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency, Tregaskis wrote John F. Kennedy and PT-109, which was later made into a movie under the shortened title PT-109. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, he lived in Hawaii working on a biography of King Kamehameha. He died of a sudden heart attack on August 15, 1973. He had been swimming in the Pacific Ocean not far from Honolulu.