Are You A Hero Grandpa? No, But I served In A Company Of Heroes

Lt. Rice: Looks like you guys are going to be surrounded.
Cpt. Winters: We're paratroopers, Lieutenant, we're supposed to be surrounded.


Band Of Brothers 2001 HBO Mini series

Directed By David Frankel and Tom Hanks
Written By Stephen Ambrose

Damian Lewis as Maj. Richard D. Winters
Donnie Wahlberg as 2nd Lt. C. Carwood Lipton
Ron Livingston as Capt. Lewis Nixon
Frank John Hughes as SSgt. William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere
Scott Grimes as TSgt. Donald Malarkey
Neal McDonough as 1st Lt. Lynn 'Buck' Compton
Matthew Settle as Capt. Ronald Speirs


The Storyline / Plot

Band Of Brothers is about the men of Easy Company 506th P.I.R. (Parachute Infantry Regiment) before, during and after they fought in World War II. Easy Company was formed in July of 1942. These men were the cream of the crop and all volunteered to join the Paratroopers. At that time, they were the best that the Army had to offer. The Army Rangers were also a high speed unit. Every Army unit believes that they are the best. The fact is that the Army Paratroopers and Rangers were and still remain some of the most highly trained and elite units in the military. The soldiers of the 506th P.I.R. were trained up in Georgia for several months. Their training included infantry tactics and Airborne school. The majority of their time was spent running, and running and running. These guys were as fit as they could possibly be. They had earned their Jump Wings, Jump boots and the right to wear the coveted Screaming Eagle unit patch.

After 15 months of training, Easy Company boarded a ship and sailed for England Spring 1944 England. After arriving at England they under went more training. These guys trained and ran, trained and ran and then trained some more. They were a highly trained and very fit bunch of young paratroopers. Then the time came, June 6th, 1944. The men of Easy Company, the 101st Airborne were just a small part of the 13,400 paratroopers who spearheaded the Allied invasion. After loading on the planes in the middle of the night, the paratroopers flew for an hour and a half across the English channel and over France. The German anti Aircraft guns started filling the skies with flack. Planes were getting shot down fast with loads full of paratroopers who would never have the chance to jump. Every paratrooper in the sky just wanted to get out of the plane! The pilots were in a hellfire storm of flack and most of them were flying to fast when they finally gave the paratroopers the green light. Because the plane were dropping paratroops at too high a rate of speed, they were loosing most of their gear. As they exited the planes, their leg bag and weapons were torn from their bodies. A lot of troopers hit the ground with no weapon. They had to look around for dead comrades and take their weapons.

Twelve men from Easy Company managed to find each other. The rest were scattered to the four winds or killed. These men were led by an extraordinary officer by the name of Lt. Richard Winters. Winters led these twelve men on their first mission on the morning of June 6th. The American forces landing on Utah beach were under heavy German artillery shelling from three miles back. Lt. Winters led his twelve men to take out the German Artillery and the 50 German soldiers who manned the guns. Only one of the twelve troopers was hit during the attack and he apologized for getting shot. That’s how dedicated these paratroopers were.

The Paratroopers jumping in, behind the German lines during the massive assault on the French shores during D-Day, caused much fear and confusion among the German command and soldiers. They took a lot of casualties but saved thousands of lives on the beaches during the invasion. The soldiers of the 506th P.I.R. fought for several days during their initial drop. Over the next three years the Men of the 506th would be involved in nearly every large battle in the European theater. I have listed some of the battles that these men participated in below.

• September 17th 1944 The 506th jumped to secure a bridge on Operation Market Garden. The Dutch welcomed the soldiers who jumped in that Sunday Morning. They called them the Angels from the sky. After their jump, they continued up Hells highway moved across Holland and to the river Rhine. This was right on the border of Germany.

• Easy Company was on the front lines of the Holland offensive for 70 days. They were off the line for less than a week when the Germans launched their Winter offensive at Bastogne and met the 506th in what became known as The Battle Of The Bulge. December 18th, the 506th was sent in to Bastogne with no winter cloths, and short of ammunition. As they were advancing they encountered U.S. troops in retreat. They took the routed soldiers ammo and dug in on the front lines. The Germans pushed the U.S. forces back and the 506th was surrounded. The soldiers of the 506th suffered the and survived some of the most intense German artillery anyone had ever seen. The 506th was on a ridge that had all been pre-sighted by the Germans. It is a wonder that any of these men survived at all. Several of the men were killed and two of their top sergeants both lost legs. The soldiers of the 506th were also the soldiers that captures the Eagles Nest. Easy company lead the way there as well. This is a ten hour story of the men of the 506th and the three years of hell that they went through during their tour of duty in World War II.


Quotes From Band Of Brothers

Lt. Speirs: We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there's still hope. But Blithe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. Without mercy. Without compassion. Without remorse. All war depends on it.

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Cpt. Winters: I had no problem with the men looting, I had seen what the Germans had done in their concentration camps.

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Col. Sink: If they come by here y'all remember to smile for the camera. Got to keep the moral up for them folks back home.
Cpt. Winters: Why?
Col. Sink: Damned if I know.


Conclusion

Band Of Brothers is one of the best films about war that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of them. One of the areas where this film excels is that we really get to know these guys. We meet them in 1942 when they are formed and over the years and battles we get to know these men. When one is killed, you feel their sorrow. The character development is this ten hour film is extraordinary. I felt like I knew these guys. The dialog was intelligent, witty, morbid and very realistic. Stephen Ambrose wrote the story of the men of the 506th and conducted many interviews with these men. Ambrose is a very accomplished historian and author, the book the dialog and the movie all reflect his superior work and abilities.

The survivors were used as consultants for the film. This helped the authenticity of the film. As a soldier and could relate to a majority of the film. It is very realistic. One of the things that I liked most about the film was the interviews at the beginning of each episode. Before an episode would start, the film would present several interviews about the upcoming events in the episode from the soldiers that were there. The interviews were very neat and sometimes heart wrenching. The guys lost some of their best friends in those places. These friends were like their brothers, these men were all like a Band Of Brothers and most of them never made it back. If you ask these men if they are heroes, they’ll say no. The hero’s are still over there, they died there. One of the survivors who lived through it, put it this way; when his grandson asked him if he was a hero in the war he said, “no, but I served in a company of heroes”.

The directing was accomplished by several solid directors. The directing was a success in every aspect. There were very few slow parts in the film. The three year story of the men of the 506th was condensed down to a ten hour mini series and it works quite well. It combines the friendships, the hardships, the lives, the times and the constant death that surrounded these men. The special effects, cinematography and score were all decent. There are many battle scenes and they are all convincing and true. The film is not all blood and guts. There is just enough to make the point of what had happened with out having to show the total and brutal reality of it all. The acting was good as well. There were a few actors that played their parts very well. I particularly enjoyed the performances of Damian Lewis and Donnie Wahlberg. These two actors did an outstanding job working in this exceptionally lengthy film. I would recommend this film to everyone. Even if you don’t enjoy history or war films you should see what these men went through. The film is chalked full of information that I found interesting like the liberation of the concentration camps and what they found. Anyone who like Saving Private Ryan would definitely enjoy this film. Tom Hanks was a producer of this film and his son played a small part as a young Lieutenant. Since Tom Hanks portrayed the Captain in Saving Private Ryan, he has become very active in preserving and creating World War II history and museums. I have a lot of respect for Hanks for his huge respect for our Veterans. More people in Hollywood should take note of this man.

I highly recommend Band Of Brothers. I purchased the series when it was first released for $74.00 It can be purchased a lot cheaper now through different online retailers. The set comes in a tin and contains ten DVD’s with 23 episodes and two special features including an hour of the interviews with the survivors of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. I give this outstanding Mini-series five of five stars with out any hesitation!

More War Films

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• Top Ten World War II Films

RUNTIME: 10 hours
Rated : [NR] There is graphic violence and war

Thanks for the read,

© 2005 Joe McMaster