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Dick Winters, who inspired 'Band of Brothers,' remembered as an American hero

PMedMoe

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His life story was writ large, a hero ready-made for Hollywood who helped save the nation during its darkest hour.

But that, Dick Winters’ friends said, was Hollywood.

In real life, Winters, whose leadership in Easy Company, 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne Division was commemorated in the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” based on the Stephen Ambrose book, shied from the spotlight.

And when Winters died Jan. 2 at an assisted-living facility in Campbelltown, his final wish — a totally private funeral — befit a man who lived through extraordinary circumstances but never considered himself anything more than a man doing his duty, his longtime friend William S. Jackson said Sunday night.

Jackson, the former editor of the Hummelstown Sun and a friend for 20 years, said Winters, 92, had been in declining health.

Proud but not boastful, Winters injected a good sense of fun into most things and never seemed to take his turn in the spotlight seriously, Jackson said.

Word of Winters’ death, withheld by the family for more than a week out of respect for his wishes, leaked Sunday on several World War II websites, including the message board for the official Maj. Richard Winters site and a Facebook page.

In an effort to confirm his passing, The Patriot-News called scores of state and local officials, hospitals and funeral homes.

Bill Guarnere, a Philadelphia resident who served under Winters, told a reporter he had been informed by HBO of Winters’ death but didn’t know for sure.

Neighbors and those involved with local World War II remembrances seemed hesitant, saying only what they’d heard from other sources.

In the end, it was Jackson, who spoke with Winters’ widow, Ethel, on Sunday evening, who provided confirmation.

A memorial service, headed up by retired Col. Cole C. Kingseed, who co-authored Winters’ autobiography, “Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Maj. Dick Winters,” will be scheduled, Jackson said.

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:salute:
 
I just caught this.  RIP to a fine combat vet/leader

http://www.edmontonsun.com/entertainment/tv/2011/01/10/16823916-wenn-story.html
 
Interesting book, Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Maj. Dick Winters. He did not touch a drink (although his best friend was an alcoholic) , was religious, and a very private man. It is always interesting to see what happened to these fellows after the war.

The CO of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles went from leading an infantry battalion, back to his farm in rural (Birtle) Manitoba. His soldiers loved him.
 
He was a personal hero my entire childhood. R.I.P. Major.

Three miles up, three miles down. Currahee!
 
He was the embodiment of what an Officer should be.  I am sure that many men owed their lives to his courage, integrity and professionalism.  I hope his passing was an easy one.  :salute:
 
Wow - my heart is racing.  This was the first place that I read about this.  I only know of him through the HBO series which I have watched several times.  I think I will read his book now.
 
:salute:

If half of the show was true he was an exceptional man in an exceptional time.
RIP Sir, you've earned it.

:salute:

 
Major Dick Winters

Major Dick Winters, who died on January 2 aged 92, was one of the US Army’s most revered servicemen of the Second World War; his exploits were later chronicled in the book and television series Band of Brothers.

As commander of E Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Winters and his company proved instrumental on D-Day in ensuring the successful American landings at Utah and Omaha beaches. He would later lead his paratroopers through the forests of France, Belgium and Holland before ending his war in Hitler’s alpine retreat.

The 2nd Battalion’s specific remit for the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 was to secure “Causeway 2”, which linked Utah Beach to the hinterland. The Germans had flooded the fields in between and the planned night-time capture of the causeways was vital in ensuring the eventual success of the amphibious landings.
The operation did not get under way smoothly, as Allied aircraft were faced by withering flak which forced troops to be dropped far away from the target area. Furthermore, the aircraft containing E Company’s Commanding Officer and First Sergeant was shot down, making Winters effective commander.

To make matters worse, Winters had lost his weapon during the drop, and 90 per cent of his men were unaccounted for. But he and 13 other members of “Easy” Company did manage to set up headquarters in a farmhouse, where at daybreak they received intelligence that four German 105mm Howitzers, manned by a full platoon, were firing on Utah Beach; they were ordered to destroy the guns.

In the ensuing attack, Winters ordered half of his squad to unleash an enveloping hail of machine gun fire, while another section of his men took the left flank and hurled hand grenades at the first gun. With this Howitzer duly disabled, the remainder of Easy Company (with the aid of “Dog” Company) made a full assault on the German trenches, spiking the other guns with TNT.

In the process Winters discovered a detailed map of all the German defence positions on Utah Beach.
The base-of-fire technique he deployed in the attack is still taught today at West Point as a textbook case for an assault on a fixed position. For his actions he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Richard D Winters was born into an industrious, teetotal, churchgoing family at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on January 21 1918. He was a reliable, reserved and hard-working youth who studied Economics at Franklin and Marshall College before enlisting in the US Army in August 1941. He was selected to attend the Army Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia, and was thereafter assigned to the 101st as a second lieutenant.
Volunteering for paratrooper training, he was assigned to E Company, where he was promoted first lieutenant and then made executive officer. In September 1943 E Company was shipped to England and posted to Wiltshire.
In the autumn and winter of 1944 Winters and 20 of his men held off a force of 200 German soldiers in the Bastogne area until relief came from George Patton’s Third Army.

For the men of Easy Company war did not end, as they had hoped, in Berlin, but in Obersalzburg, where Hitler had his Berghof retreat. In November 1945, Major Winters (as he had become) returned home.
He was recalled to the regular army in 1951 for the Korean War, serving as a training officer at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He later worked in a nitration works plant in New Jersey before returning to Pennsylvania, where he founded his own company selling farming products.

Dick Winters led a quiet life until an encounter in his twilight years. He and the historian Stephen Ambrose both attended a 101st Airborne reunion in New Orleans in the autumn of 1988, which resulted in a meeting between the two in February 1990. Two years later Band of Brothers was published.

A courageous soldier who had been held in much affection by his men, Winters suddenly found himself something of a celebrity. In 2001 the book was adapted for television in a miniseries of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. It starred the English actor Damian Lewis as Winters and brought his tale of heroism and fortitude to a global audience.

Winters was thereafter inundated with requests for public interviews and speeches, and was a regular guest lecturer at West Point. In 2006, he published his memoirs, Beyond Band of Brothers.

He is survived by his wife Ethel and two children.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/army-obituaries/8253502/Major-Dick-Winters.html


 
To a remarkable man and a great soldier who deserved the Medal of Honour for what he did that day at Carentan.

You, sir, will never stand alone.

Let Taps be played.

RIP
 
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