Captain Dick Winters, United States Paratrooper, January 21, 1918 - January 2, 2011

Dick Winters, the former World War II commander whose war story was told in the book and miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died.

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.”

He's in that Great Big Drop Zone in the Sky.



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LAST JUMP . . .

. . . INTO THAT GREAT BIG DROP ZONE IN THE SKY . . .


John "Jack" Agnew, 1922-2010, American Paratrooper, Hero of World War II


Member of Unit Linked to 'Dirty Dozen' Dies in Pennsylvania
By RON TODT - Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA John "Jack" Agnew, one of the original members of a U.S. Army unit that operated behind enemy lines in World War II and is often credited with having loosely inspired the movie "The Dirty Dozen," has died at age 88.

Agnew belonged to the Filthy Thirteen, an unofficial unit within the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was pronounced dead Thursday at Abington Memorial Hospital after becoming ill at his home in the Maple Village retirement community in Hatboro, where he and his wife moved about a year ago, his daughter Barbara Agnew Maloney said.

On D-Day, the Filthy Thirteen parachuted into France to take a bridge over the Douve River. It was "a mission that would cost most of the men their lives," according to an article in the winter 2008-09 edition of American Valour Quarterly, a publication of the nonprofit American Veterans Center.





(During) the Battle of the Bulge, Agnew and other members of the unit were requested for Pathfinder duty and parachuted into Bastogne, which was besieged by German forces. Agnew operated a beacon to help guide in planes carrying badly needed supplies.

Tales of the unit's exploits and a Stars and Stripes military newspaper photograph are said to have inspired "The Dirty Dozen," not because any of the unit's members were convicts like the movie's characters — they weren't — but because of their reputation for brawling, drinking and spending time in the stockade.


A real young Charles Bronson, before becoming consumed by hatred & vengeance in the Death Wish series of films.


In interviews, Agnew, a private first class, said that came directly from the unit's leader, Jake McNiece.



Jake McNiece, somewhere in England, 5 June 1944.


"We weren't murderers or anything, we just didn't do everything we were supposed to do in some ways and did a whole lot more than they wanted us to do in other ways," he told the quarterly. "We were always in trouble."

Agnew was among those interviewed in a documentary, "The Filthy Thirteen: Real Stories from Behind the Lines," that was included in a 2006 special edition DVD of "The Dirty Dozen."

The 1967 movie, about an Army major who has to train and lead 12 convicts into a mission targeting German officers, starred Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Jim Brown.






Maloney said her father told her about 30 percent of the movie was true.

"And, actually, the scene where they captured the officers, Dad said that was true and he really coordinated that," she said Sunday.



Bona-fide-war-hero-in-his-own-right Lee Marvin cuts the definitive cool guy submachine gun action pose in Dirty Dozen.



Two months ago, Maloney said, she accompanied her father to a military history convention in Louisville, Ky., where she met with three of the four surviving Filthy Thirteen members and three members of Easy Company, which was the focus of the HBO series "Band of Brothers."

"Dad, when we were little kids, he'd always say, 'I won the war; I know you don't believe me, but someday you'll know,'" she said. "We didn't really realize it until the 'Band of Brothers' came out."

Agnew will be buried with full military honors Tuesday at Forest Hills Cemetery in Huntingdon Valley, in the Philadelphia suburbs, where he and his wife, Elizabeth Agnew, lived for 56 years, Maloney said.






"The Dirty Dozen" author E.M. Nathanson may have gotten the idea for the title (if not the plot) of his best-selling novel from a real-life group of World War II 101st Airborne Division paratroopers nicknamed "The Filthy Thirteen." These men, demolitionists in Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st, supposedly earned their nickname by not bathing or shaving for a long period of time during training prior to the Normandy invasion. Members of The Filthy Thirteen can be seen in famous vintage film footage and still photos, their faces painted with Indian "war paint," before boarding their planes for the D-Day jump.

101st Airborne historian Mark Bando interviewed a couple of the original Thirteen for his book, The 101st Airborne at Normandy, published in 1994.

They were members of HQ/ 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the roster included: "Jake McNiece, Jack Womer, John Agnew, Lt. Charles Mellen, Joseph Oleskiewicz, John Hale, James T. Green, George Radeka, Clarence Ware, Robert S. Cone, Roland R. Baribeau, James E. Leach and Andrew Rassmussen. Others including Frank Palys and Charles Plaudo were sometimes members of the group." Only a few survived the Normandy mission, though the members of the unit did complete their assigned mission, blowing bridges over the Douve River.


Jack Agnew and Robert Cone getting ready for the Normandy Jump.

A review of surnames from the group quickly disposes of the myth that they were all "Indians." Several are of Polish descent and Robert Cone who was badly wounded in Normandy and captured was Jewish. He would spend the remainder of the war in POW camps.

Another myth of the Thirteen was that Lt. Mellen could whip any member of the group. According to Jake McNiece, "any one of our group could have whipped him without working up a sweat." Lt. Mellen was KIA in Normandy and was found dead, bandaged about the arm and leg. Apparently he fought on for some time after being wounded.


They climbed onto those birds in England and exited over Normandy . . . and became the Stuff of Legends . . . they are Heroes . . . Honor them.



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SKULLHEAD SENDS

SkullHead comments on the Rambo post from the other week:

. . . remember most in SF service are highly intelligent altho i do remember partying a little. but alot of spare time was spent in educating my self as well other members were hitting the books. the Rambo image of the SF groups is not how it is down range some one like him could get you killed. the part that comes from inside is the patriot, warrior and gentleman. true alot think this is a job for them or the glamor is what they seek. truth is its hard mental and physical work there is only the occasional good job. most of the former members will always point the finger of success to some one else on the team. clandestine operators are the true patriots and gentleman of this country. when asked why they do it "Who else is going to do it?" is a normal answer. i don't think You pick SF i think SF picks you, the true band of brothers.



A good friend of mine, SkullHead spent years living a life most people only read about in books or see in the movies. - S.L.

WWII PARATROOPER MAKES FINAL MOVEMENT

Darrell “Shifty” Powers, one of the soldiers depicted in “Band of Brothers,” passed away on Wednesday, June 17, 2009.

Powers, United States Army paratrooper and sharpshooter, Easy Company, 2d/506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, died 17 June 2009 of natural causes at age 86.

Like millions of Americans, "Shifty" answered the call of World War II. A quiet, unassuming man, Shifty joined the Army and then volunteered for the Airborne. After intensive training, Powers was assigned to the famed Easy Company 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, where he jumped into Normandy on D-day. He was involved in the assault on Bracore Manor, which saved thousands of lives on Omaha Beach.

Powers fought in the battle of Carentan and the airborne invasion of Holland as part of Operation Market Garden, where millions of French and Dutch citizens were liberated.

During Hitler's final offensive, what came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge, the 506th was encircled by superior German forces in the Belgian town of Bastone. The 101st held out against incredible odds; their successful defense of bastogne was critical to turning the tide of the German offensive and ultimately the war in the Western Front. Powers and the 506th then entered Germany, liberated concentration camps and captured Hitler's "Eagles Nest" in Berchtesgarden.

Powers got the nickname "Shifty" playing basketball as a youngster. He served three years in the Army during World War II and later worked as a machinist for Clinchfield Coal Corp. He found renewed notoriety when Stephen Ambrose wrote about Easy Company in the World War II history Band of Brothers; Shifty’s experiences were depicted on the film of the same name.

"He actually hadn't talked about it, his war years, until the book came out," said his daughter-in-law, Sandy Powers.

In the second-to-last episode of "Band of Brothers," an HBO miniseries that documented Easy Company's wartime exploits, Powers spoke on camera about combat, the soldiers he served with and the German enemy he fought.

He recalled a bitterly cold day in the Ardennes when he was able to draw down on a German sniper, sighting his target by the misty cloud of the man's breath. He killed him with one shot.

"Right there," he said, touching his forehead. "Between the eyes."

He was reflective of such matters, "We might have had a lot in common. He might've liked to fish, you know, he might've liked to hunt. Of course, they were doing what they were supposed to do, and I was doing what I was supposed to do . . . under different circumstances, we might have been good friends."

"For me and my kids, it's just amazing that our regular, sweet uncle was such a hero," said his niece, Cheryl Gilliland of Roanoke. "It sure changed his life in later years. He went places and met people he never would have otherwise."

Darrell Powers met a German soldier in 2005 who had fought against him at the brutal siege of Bastogne during the winter of 1944.

According to his son, Wayne, he had been scheduled to travel to Iraq to meet with U.S. soldiers in September 2008, but health problems prevented it. "He was so disappointed. He wanted to meet with the soldiers so badly," Sandy Powers said.

One of his closest friends, Earl McClung, of Colorado, in 2001 called Darrell Powers "a heck of a good soldier and a heck of a good shot."

"And he was there every time I looked up," he added.

"Our family had four boys and one girl, and I'm the only one left," said Powers' sister, Gaynell Sykes of Roanoke, Virginia. "He was a great brother. I know he was great at a lot of other things, too -- great father, great son, great husband."

Blue Skies, and Godspeed to you Darrell "Shifty" Powers, Airborne Paratrooper - we know you're in that Great Big Drop Zone in the Sky, making linkup with the rest of your Band of Brothers.