Keyes Beech

Keyes Beech (August 13, 1913 – February 15, 1990) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, best known for his reporting on World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

During World War II, Beech served in the United States Marine Corps in Asia as a combat correspondent. He was with the 2nd Marine Division at the Battle of Tarawa and was one of the first journalists at the top of Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. One of his assignments in that period was reporting on Asian affairs. In 1951, he was one of six foreign correspondents who were cited for their Korean War coverage by the Pulitzer Prize jury.

In 1979 Beech was working for the Los Angeles Times, he covered the fifth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Manila, Philippines.

He died of emphysema at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington.

In popular culture Beech was played by John Benjamin Hickey in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers.