George Polk

Polk was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of lawyer George Washington Polk Sr. and librarian Adalaide Roe. He studied at the Virginia Military Institute from 1930 to 1933, but withdrew prior to receiving a degree.

In 1933, Polk began working as a salesman. Five years later, in 1938, he completed his undergraduate degree in English at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and had begun writing for the Fort Worth Press.

After graduating, he lived in Asia, where he joined the Shanghai Evening Post. In 1940, he returned to the United States, working then 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.

Polk married Kay Phillips in 1939.

Polk married Rea Coccins (also known as Rhea Kokkonis), a Greek national and ex-stewardess, seven months prior to his death. They had no children. After being allegedly harassed and threatened by the Greek government, Rea fled to the U.S. where she was debriefed by Donovan's law firm. She became friendly with Barbara Colby, the wife of William Colby, a former OSS officer attached to Donovan's firm, who later would become director of the CIA.

In February 2007, Polk's "status as a symbol of journalistic integrity" was challenged by historian Richard Frank, who concluded that Polk made false claims about his service record in World War II. Frank examined the claim, repeated by Edward R. Murrow, that Polk had commanded a unit of 119 marines on Guadalcanal, flew a fighter plane that shot down 11 Japanese aircraft and was awarded a Purple Heart. He concluded that it is not consistent with the available documentation. Frank said that "the inescapable conclusion is that George Polk did not simply verbally recount false tales of his wartime exploits to his family and to his journalist colleagues, he actually forged documents to buttress his stories."

George Polk's brother, William, replied to this attack, which he called slanderous, in a letter to The Guardian on March 19, 2007. He pointed out that Frank did not discuss a single article Polk ever wrote and that his military record is amply substantiated in a range of military documents, including a picture of Polk being decorated by Vice-Admiral John McCain on November 30, 1943, on behalf of the "Airplane Cruiser Detachment... for their heroic role during the Battle for the Solomons."

In April 2007, Frank responded to William Polk's letters and to what he considered a baffling silence from journalists that greeted his charges.