Journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, who in 1942 was invited to become a war correspondent, one of eight journalists known as The Writing 69th, sent to the UK to fly with the US Army Air Force on bombing missions over Europe. Bigart was attached to the 303rd Bomb Group, 360th Bomb Squadron, flying out of Molesworth.



On 26 February 1943, after completing a week's training Bigart and five other members of The Writing 69th participated in their first and last mission, flying over Wilhemshaven. Robert Post another journalist was killed and Bigart's formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses also suffered heavy losses, as a result, journalists were prevented from participating in further missions with the 8th Air Force.



Desipite Post's death Bigart wrote of the mission: 'A mission to Germany is a nasty experience. Apart from the very real danger to life and limb, there is the acute discomfort of enduring sub-zero temperatures for hours at a stretch and taking air through an oxygen mask. The altitude can affect your sinews, your kidneys, even the fillings of your teeth. You are very tired when you return. If you are a delayed-reaction type, you are likely to feel slightly under par for a couple of days. I must be crazy, but I should like to go again.'



Bigart transferred to the Mediterranean Theatre, reporting on campaigns in North Africa, Italy and the South of France. Following VE Day in 1945, Bigart travelled to the Pacific where he was one of the first journalists to enter Hiroshima following the atomic bombing. He was awarded his first Pulitzer prize for International reporting for his reporting in the Pacific in 1945.



Bigart continued his career as a war correspondent, reporting on the Korean War with the New York Herald Tribune (where he won his second Pulitzer prize in 1951). He joined the New York Times in 1955, covering the course of the Civil Rights movement in 1957 and reporting on the Nazi War Crimes Trial of Adolph Eichman in 1961. In 1962 he travelled to Vietnam for 6 months where he earned criticism for writing negatively on the conflict, to the extent that he was expelled from the county by the South Vietnamese President. He returned to the US and continued to write on the Civil Rights movement, covering the demonstrations in St Augustine Florida. He retired in 1973.