Lee Carson

Lee Carson Reeves (1921/1922? – 1973) was an international war correspondent covering front line combat in the European theater in World War II from 1943 to 1946. She received the International News Service Medal of Honor in 1945 and the National Headliners Club Award for outstanding achievement.

Early life
Carson attended Smith College in Chicago at the age of 14 but left after two years to become a reporter at the Chicago Times. She also contributed articles to Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal and Harper’s Bazaar.

Career
Carson joined the International News Service in 1940. She was made a war correspondent in 1943. J.C. Oestreicher, head of overseas news for the Hearst Group in New York, personally sent Carson to France to cover the war. While there, Carson also studied at the Ecole Anglaise in Paris.

Dubbed the "best-looking war correspondent" by Newsweek, Carson was said to use this toward her advantage; but never let that distract from her job. In an article for Look magazine, Carson said: “the best break I got in war of preparation for the battle front came … when I was born into a family of outspoken, uninhibited sons.” Fighter pilot Colonel Hubert Zemke recalled how in the Spring of 1944, Carson caused a commotion while visiting the 56th Fighter Group by coercing a pilot into allowing her aboard a bomber on D-Day.

Nursing units arrived on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Women correspondents were not allowed due to a SHAEF decree; but Carson managed to bypass the restrictions by coercing a group commander at an air base who allowed her a seat aboard a plane and an aerial view of the attack. Upon her return, Carson was able to cable a first hand eyewitness report of the invasion, days before other newsmen. When word circulated around the news desks, angry editors accused Carson of "batting her eyelashes" to get the story. SHAEF issued an order of discipline against her. Carson managed to elude military police and later went on to state: “Sure, I knew it [the policy that women could not cover combat]. But my job was to get the news.”

Carson was the first Allied War Correspondent to enter Paris after its liberation. Accompanying the 4th Army, she reported on the Paris civilians who resisted the occupation; and later crossed the Siegfried Line at Aachen with fellow war correspondent Iris Carpenter alongside the 1st Army. Carpenter and Carson both reported on the Battle of the Bulge and the first GIs encountering Soviet forces at the Elbe River. On April 15, 1945, Carson entered Colditz after the liberation of the Castle and snapped the only photograph of the "cock" glider, built by inmates hidden in the attic. On April 23, 1945, Carson witnessed the liberation of the Erla Work Camp at Leipzig.

On Saturday, June 16, 1945, Carson was awarded the Headliner medal from the National Headliners Club. Carson retired from the International News Service in 1957.

Personal life
Carson was married to CIA officer Jay Reeves. She died of cancer at the age of 51 in 1973 at the Lankenau Hospital in Overbook, PA.