Dick Winters led a quiet life on his Fredericksburg farm and in his Hershey home until the book and miniseries “Band of Brothers” threw him into the international spotlight.
Since then, the former World War II commander of Easy Company had received hundreds of requests for interviews and appearances all over the world.
When people asked him if he was a hero, he liked to answer the way his World War II buddy, Mike Ranney, did.
“No,” Ranney said. “But I served in a company of heroes.” That became the tag line for the miniseries.
People who knew Winters during and after the war said he is exactly what he appears to be. He could lead without ever raising his voice or swearing. His friend Bob Hoffman, a Lebanon architect, said Winters’ eyes could “burn a hole right through you.”
According to the book, one wounded member of Easy Company wrote Winters from a hospital bed in 1945, “I would follow you into Hell.”
Ambrose, the author of “Band of Brothers,” said in a 2001 BBC interview that he hopes young people say. “I want to be like Dick Winters.”
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I hate to nit, but I thought he was promoted to major.
ReplyDeleteWe lost a Good Man!
ReplyDeleteMAJ Winters was born in 1918, the same year as my grandfather who was a WWII Navy Vetran. Whats sad is that so many of those American men and woman are gone now. We owe that generation everything, and what class they had.
ReplyDeleteRest in Peace Major Winters
Hopefully St. Peter had a truck waiting for him on the DZ.
ReplyDeleteHE MAKES ME PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
ReplyDeleteUSA could be proud to have a man like him !
ReplyDeleteWe need to keep the memory of such a great American alive. I'm watching Band of Brothers again, this time with my 17 year old daughter.
ReplyDeleteI hope she will come away with the same sense of gratitude that I have, for what these men did for our country.
God bless you all...