Dick Winters (Band of Brothers leader) dies
Discussion
Well done you! It really is a fantastic series.
After watching Band of Brothers I read several books about this guy and it's all truely humbling stuff. He was just cut from a different cloth it seems (like most of those who served).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GUZR0MGQMw&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GUZR0MGQMw&fea...
I signed a petition last year for him, as there had been a campaign for him to be awarded the CMoH for his actions on D-Day.
http://www.majordickwinters.com/
Perhaps those in office will finally see sense and make a posthumous award,
RIP
http://www.majordickwinters.com/
Perhaps those in office will finally see sense and make a posthumous award,
RIP
deviant said:
Hang tough sir!
Sure Here you go....saladin said:
I had the great fortune to meet him twice.... I can say hand on heart he was the most remarkable man I have met.... A sad day indeed 
Would love to hear your stories of that!Firstly some background information.
We live in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, where “Easy Company” were stationed for six months prior to D Day and then for another three months before “Market Garden”. Our workshop is a WWII Nissen Hut, which is one of only two surviving buildings from a large Army camp built back in the 1940’s. The hut was moved to its current location in the 1950’s by a local builder.
We watched The Band of Brothers TV series when it was first aired on BBC 2 in September 2001 and following its broadcast we went on a long overdue holiday to the USA.
Now in one of those strange coincidences that happen in life I have a brother who lives in Philadelphia and an uncle who lives in Atlanta. Now a lot of the surviving veterans of Easy Company live in Pennsylvania and Toccoa where the Paratroopers training camp was based is very close to Atlanta.
Whilst staying with my uncle we took a day trip up to Toccoa and found the town hall and made ourselves known. As soon as we said we were from Aldbourne the red carpet was rolled out, the press was called and we were treated as honoured guests.
We asked if it was possible to contact any of the veterans once we were back in Pennsylvania and were given the phone number of Bill Guarnere. Once back in Philadelphia we contacted him and asked if we could see him. Aldbourne really was like an “Open sesame” As soon as we mentioned where we were from it opened up so many doors.
We visited “Wild Bill” and spent a good three hours with him as he relived his wartime memories. At the end of our visit my Dad asked if it was possible to see Major Winters. With that Bill picks up his phone and calls him…
“Dick? It’s Bill. I have some folks here from Aldbourne who would like to see you”
With that he hands the phone over to my dad. Dad introduces himself and as soon as Aldbourne is mentioned we were invited to visit Major Winters and his wife at their home in Hersey.
The day of the visit was one of those days that will always stay fresh in my mind. My brother drove us the hundred odd miles from his home on the outskirts of Philadelphia to Hersey.
We arrived at Major Winters home and rang the doorbell. Major Winters answered the door and dad introduced us all. At this point I should point out that my brother is my half brother. My dad did his national service in Germany and met his first wife out there. So my brother who has spent the last twenty years or so in the States still has a pronounced accent… he sounds a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So picture the scene…Both of my parents and myself with West Country accents and my brother with a German accent. To say Major Winters did a double take is an understatement. Dad explained the situation and the first thing Major Winters said to my brother after this was “You ready to hear the truth boy!”
He took us up to his office/private museum, on the wall was the map he used whist he and his men were pined down by German artillery shells raining down on them during the battle of Bastonge, on the floor next to a filing cabinet were his jump boots he wore through the whole campaign, from Normandy to Berchtesgaden. With a little bit of red twine threaded through a hole of one of the tongues of one where he got injured by a ricochet.
We spent an afternoon with this remarkable man and listened to his recollections of those dark days of WWII. He showed us his wartime diary upon which Stephen E Ambrose based his book. Reading the Entry written on June 6th 1944 was as you can imagine extremely interesting. It really was as chaotic as portrayed in the series.
I could go on…. But will end it for now by going back to those jump boots. The soles were as new. It turns out that at the end of the European hostilities whilst Major Winters was waiting at Zell am See he decided to get transferred so that he could join the fighting in the Far East. He rushed back to Aldbourne to get them re soled… They had seen through the whole European Campaign and he now looked upon them as his lucky boots.
Well by the time he had got back and boots repaired the Atomic Bombs had been dropped and hostilities with Japan ceased so Major Winters war was truly over.
At this point my mum pipes up… “Well if you had gone out to the Far East you never know but you might have liberated me from my interment in Stanley Camp”
You see my mum was born in Hong Kong in 1936 and from the 25th December 1941 till the end of the Hostilities she was a guest of Emperor Hirohito in his wonderful civilian internment camp, Stanley Camp.
The look on Major Winters face was something to see.
Jimbeaux said:
saladin said:
Told a wonderful story
Excellent account; I envy you. Thanks for sharing.I met Ambrose a few times. He was a History professor at the University of New Orleans. A more passionate historian never lived.
Edited by Jimbeaux on Tuesday 11th January 21:15
saladin said:
Jimbeaux said:
saladin said:
Told a wonderful story
Excellent account; I envy you. Thanks for sharing.I met Ambrose a few times. He was a History professor at the University of New Orleans. A more passionate historian never lived.
Edited by Jimbeaux on Tuesday 11th January 21:15
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