Ill-Starred General: Braddock of the Coldstream Guards

Lee McCardell (1901-1963) was an American reporter, foreign correspondent, feature writer and biographer. Born in Frederick, Maryland on June 8, 1901, his father was descendent from Frederick county farmers, bankers, business men and public officials since the days of the pioneers. Receiving his early education in the public schools of Frederick, he entered Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh, Virginia in 1919, but then switched to the University of Virginia—and a liberal arts curriculum—graduating in 1923. Upon completion of his studies he moved to Baltimore, where he began newspaper work as a district reporter at the News-American and for The Baltimore News. He also worked briefly for the New York Evening Post. He transferred to The Evening Sun in 1925 and then spent the rest of his career with the Sunpapers of Baltimore, working as a reporter and editor in Washington and Paris. One of his many reports whilst in Washington covered the rout of the Bonus Army, out-of-work World War I veterans who had settled in shacks along the Anacostia River in Washington; for his account of that incident, MacCardell won an honorable mention in the 1933 Pulitzer Prize competition. He served as a foreign correspondent from Europe during the World War II years, writing not only of the battles, but also reporting on the men who prepared for and fought in them; MacCardell was one of only four reporters to describe the D-Day landings from the air. After a brief post-war period of acclimating to civilian life, McCardell became chief of the London Bureau of The Sun and stayed for eighteen months. He was appointed city editor of The Evening Sun, a post he held until he was promoted to assistant managing editor in June, 1954. When The Sun opened its Rome Bureau in 1957, he was the natural choice for bureau chief, returning to the United States and The Evening Sun in 1960. He died on February 7, 1963 at the age of 61.