During World War II, George 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 16 August 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. George Polk disappeared in Greece and was found dead a few days later on Sunday 16 May 1948, shot at point-blank range in the back of the head, and with hands and feet tied. Polk was covering the civil war in Greece between the right wing government and communists and had been critical of both sides. He alleged that a few officials in the Greek government had embezzled up to $250,000 in foreign aid (equivalent to $2.3 million in 2011 dollars) from the Truman Administration, a charge that was never proved. He had been particularly outspoken in his criticism of the Truman government’s unqualified support for the rightist authoritarian regime in Greece. In the late 1970s, the story emerged as to how AMAG (American Mission for Aid to Greece) authorities helped the Greek police frame two young communists for his death.

A communist journalist, Gregorios Staktopoulos, was tried and convicted of helping Vaggelis Vasvanas and Adam Mouzenidis, members of the illegal communist army, commit the murder. The communist guerilla radio station stated that Adam Mouzenidis was already killed in an aerial bombing by the Hellenic Air Force when George Polk was murdered. Staktopoulos himself maintained that the confession that led to his conviction was obtained through torture, and in fact it was later revealed that Adam Mouzenidis arrived at Salonica, where he was allegedly introduced to Polk, two days after Polk’s murder, and Vasvanas was not in Greece at the time. An investigation by James G.M. Kellis (also known as Killis), a former OSS officer with knowledge of Greek political circles and power brokers, concluded that Greek communist circles lacked the power and influence to commit the murder and cover it up. Kellis worked on contract for the Wall Street law firm of William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, the former head of OSS, who was hired by journalist Walter Lippman to investigate the case. Following Kellis’ conclusion that it was more likely Polk had been murdered by right-wing groups within or affiliated to the Greek government, the investigation was halted and Kellis recalled to Washington. At the time the US government was financially supporting the Greek government mainly to prevent a communist take-over of the country. The Greek government had been supported by the British Government throughout 1941-1945 but this became an impossibility after the war.

George Polk had 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. Reporters in New York city started a fundraising project to send an independent investigation committee to Greece, and from this effort the newsmen’s commission was formed. Members included Ernest Hemingway, William Polk (Polk’s brother), William A. Price (his cousin) and Homer Bigart. This was soon however eclipsed in media coverage by the Lippman Committee, consisting mostly of Washington journalists with Walter Lippman as chairman and James Reston of the New York Times. Within months of his death, a group of American journalists instigated the George Polk Awards for outstanding radio or television journalism. These awards were modeled after the Pulitzer Prize which is awarded for outstanding print journalism in newspapers.