George Polk

George Washington Polk, Jr. (October 17, 1913 – May 1948) was an American journalist for CBS who was murdered during the Greek Civil War, in 1948. Early years George Washington Polk was born in Fort Worth, Texas as a son of lawyer George Washington Polk, Sr. and librarian Adalaide Roe. He studied, but did not graduate, at the Virginia Military Institute and started working as a salesman in 1933. In 1938 he completed his undergraduate degree in English at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and already started writing for the Fort Worth Press. After graduation he lived in Asia, joined the Shanghai Evening Post and married in 1939 with Kay Phillips. In 1940, he returned to the United States, working now for the Herald Tribune and teaching at New York University. World War II During World War II, Polk enlisted with a Naval Construction Battalion. After the invasion of Guadalcanal, the first element of Construction Unit Base 1 (CUB-1), an advance fuel and supply base, landed on August 16, 1942. This element was commanded by Ensign George W. Polk, USNR, and consisted of five officers and 118 enlisted personnel, all navy petty officers of aviation support ratings. CUB-1 later received a Presidential Unit Citation for its service. Polk also performed duty as a "volunteer" dive bomber and reconnaissance pilot. He was wounded, suffered from malaria and was hospitalized for almost a year. Greek Civil War Polk was found dead near the Port of Thessaloniki on Sunday May 16, 1948, shot at point-blank range in the back of the head, with hands and feet tied.