Winters Richard - Beyond Band Of Brothers.pdf

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Contents

Author’s Preface

Prologue

PART ONE Band of Brothers

1 Beginnings

2 There Is Nothing Easy

3 From Benning to Shanks

4 Old Beyond My Years

PART TWO In the Time of Achilles

5 Day of Days

6 Carentan

7 Holland

8 The Island

PART THREE In War’s Dark Crucible

9 Interlude

10 Surrounded Again

11 The Final Patrols

12 Victory

PART FOUR Finding Peace After a Lifetime of War

13 Occupation

14 Coming Home

15 Steve Ambrose Slept Here

16 Reflections

Leadership at the Point of the Bayonet

Index

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First electronic edition: March 2006

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liability.

For

Ethel

Author’s Preface

First, this is not a work of fiction. These are true stories that happened in World War II to real people,

men I led, and soldiers I fought beside. Even now, I stay in touch with many who are still living these

sixty years later.

Stephen Ambrose, in his book, called us a “band of brothers.” Yet in the way we took care of

each other, protected each other, and laughed and cried together, we really were even closer than

blood brothers. We were like twins—what happened to one of us, happened to us all, and we all

shared the consequences and the feelings.

After Ambrose finished the book, he wanted to clear his desk, and his floor, for the next book,

the big one, D-Day: The Climactic Battle of World War II. His way of clearing was to send me a huge

box containing all the memories of the men who had contributed for the writing of Band of Brothers.

My home den thus became the repository for all these memories. It took me a whole winter to sort all

the papers and add them to the records that I already had for the men. Ambrose had roughly put them

in piles representing the chapters in which he used them, so I had a lot of sorting and reading to do to

gather together the memories of each man.

As I read them, I came across so many good stories that for want of space had not been included

in the book. I thought then, as I think now, that it was a shame that so many of them had remained

“untold.” Since the book publication and especially after the HBO miniseries

Band of Brothers,

produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, I have been deluged with letters from people with

questions, people begging for more stories—both more from me and from the men.

This book is the only way I know to reach all those many people, from all over the world, who

have such a thirst to know more. Whether I read people’s letters or go out to speak, the cry is always,

“Tell us more! Tell us more!” I cannot possibly write or speak to all these people, but one letter writer

succinctly summarized the wide appeal of the men with whom I served and the message I wish to

convey: “Generals Eisenhower, Patton, and Montgomery, President Roosevelt, and Prime Minister

Churchill were giants on a world stage. You and your men were different to me, though. You came

from the cities, backgrounds, and places that I came from. You had some of the same problems and

situations. Your triumph was one of character more than ability and talent. I do not mean to imply that

you or your men lacked talent and ability, but I could identify with your talents and abilities. I will

never be able to speak like Churchill or have the ambition of Patton, but I can have the quiet

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