Washington, July 18 (DPA) Walter Cronkite, the iconic US journalist who reported from World War II battlefields and is credited with helping turn public opinion against the Vietnam War, died Friday in New York at the age of 92.

Cronkite's calm and kindly demeanour earned him the nicknames 'Uncle Walter' and 'the most trusted man in America' from viewers.

He served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981 and usually ended each broadcast with a phrase that became his signature: 'And that's the way it is.'

The typically stoic and composed Cronkite is also remembered for times when he did let his feelings show.

Cronkite famously removed his glasses and shed a few tears on air when reporting the death of US president John F. Kennedy in 1963. Six years later, viewers saw a near-speechless Cronkite smiling with delight as NASA astronauts landed on the moon.

'When Walter rejoiced over man landing on the moon, America rejoiced with him,' newsman Ted Koppel told CBS in 2007.

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr was born in St Joseph, Missouri in 1916. The son of a dentist, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, but dropped out to begin his career in journalism.

He worked as a news writer and editor, then a radio announcer, and joined the United Press in 1937.

As a World War II correspondent, Cronkite went ashore on D-Day and flew along on bombing missions over Germany. Cronkite was United Press' chief correspondent during the Nuremberg war crimes trials, and later served as Moscow bureau chief.

After returning from Europe, Cronkite joined the CBS Washington affiliate in 1950. The term 'anchorman' was first used to describe his central role in covering the first televised Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1952.