5 Little Known Facts about Easy Company “Band of Brothers”
Band of Brothers penned by Stephen Ambrose and published in 1992, became the critically acclaimed series in 2001. What a great book and series they are. I have the book, and received the CD set as a gift from my son. Once a year or so I’ll declare Band of Brothers Day, and watch the entire set.
War History Online has done its research, and this is the result. Set some time aside, as it is no small production, and well worth the time.
Click on the link and see for yourself.
Category: Military issues, Real Soldiers
Thanks AW1Ed! Read and reread this tome several times. Usually re-watch the videos during the after Christmas Break. In spite of some of the historical glitches that Hollyweird is so infamous for, they did a fairly good job on this. Special effects (battle scenes) in here and Saving Private Ryan are some of the most realistic. My Papa was with Patton’s 3rd Army when they were sent to relieve Bastogne. Battery C 741st FA was firing in support on a shoot and scoot as soon as they came into range and could bring the big guns to bear. He never would talk about Normandy or Bastogne. He survived all of that and was killed in a truck wreck in ’63 less than 5 miles from home. Left a young widow and 6 kids. One of the reasons why I volunteered for the Artillery.
AW1Ed, thank you for posting this. I had the honor of meeting and spending some time with Frank Perconte who was the oldest surviving member of Easy Co. when he passed, five years ago last week. He was a member of a local VFW where I volunteered. Our first meeting was sweet, funny and showed the man was as humble as he was heroic. By all accounts, he always acted a bit surprised over the fuss made of him. He considered his brothers, particularly those he lost the real heroes, while he just did his job and was lucky. I played waitress at Fish Fry sometimes, and one day I was walking past the bar with a tray of dirty plates. This very elderly man literally fell over, right in front of me and almost into me and I dropped my tray and half caught him on the way down, with him ending up half in my lap on the ground. He looked up at me surprised and completely alert, so I just said, “Well, hi!” He laughed and apologized and made a comment about falling at my feet. I told him I was so surprised such a handsome man fell at my feet, I just had to try to catch him. Immediately several people were there, checking him, and me. His health care aid was there too and she scolded him for sneaking to the bar while she went to the bathroom. He refused medical attention (he just had balance issues sometimes, but at 90+ years old, that happens.) Later, he found out I’m a Gold Star mother and my son was in the 101st, and wanted to know all about my son. Over the next couple years when he was no longer able to come out for Fish Frys, I was asked to come with a couple times to deliver a meal to him. At that first meeting on the floor at the bar I had not seen Band of Brothers, and did not really understand the honor he gave me by wanting to hear about my son.… Read more »
God’s Peace and Blessings continue to be with you Denise Williams. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Our deepest sympathies for the loss of your son PFC Andrew Meari. It is young men and Mothers like you that we are talking about when we speak of the American Blood and Treasure that has been spilled in the wearing of the uniform. Rest assured that every person who reads this posting will be raising a prayer/and or a toast in his and your honor. We may not know you or Andrew personally, but we know your type. You can rest assured too that Andrew’s loss will not be forgotten by his Brothers and Sisters, the ones that served with him and the ones of us that just have the common bond of service. There is not a person that frequents this site that would not do anything they could for you and yours. All you would have to do is ask. Andrew was met in Valhalla by Warriors and he will meet us when we cross over with a big “Welcome Home Brother.” We are humbled by his and your sacrifice. Deo Vindice jc nsnr
Dear Denise,
God bless you & Andrew.
Your post moved me.
Ken Gemmill
US Army 1980-1988
This is the second time you’ve caught me flat-footed. All I can say is, you’re welcome, Ma’am, and thank you.
Denise, thank you for sharing your personal encounter with T-4 Frank Perconte.
I Goggled some pictures of him and the ones of him in his 90’s still show a (mischievous?)twinkle in his eyes. 😉
I believe that both of you were enriched by your chance meeting.
Bless you and your family
You, your son and Mr. Peconte all have earned a special place in our hearts, Denise. Thank you for that amazing story!
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing story with us Denise.
Just hearing your story made me want to learn more about Andrew. He and I were serving about 180km away from one another in 2010. I was up the road a ways, in Uruzgan.
My thoughts and prayers are with you. Again, thank you.
Steve
Australian Army
I’m not meaning to hijack AW1Ed’s excellent post, or diminish, challenge or even compare the current 101st with Easy Company, but I thought it relevant to share here. The Military Channel did an episode on the 101st in Afghanistan. The mission on which my son died starts at about 35 minutes in, but the whole episode is about the 101st.
https://youtu.be/WbXiTm8wDwk
As always, my screen gets blurry when I read your comments to me.
Somehow, the thank you I can offer to all of you simply doesn’t seem enough.
“Somehow, the thank you I can offer to all of you simply doesn’t seem enough.” No, Dear Lady, it is us, the followers on this site, the American, and Afghan Peoples that owe a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid by a simple “Thank you.” For you, Mothers like you, Andrew, and Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines like him, the very ones who cashed that blank check we all signed when we took the oath. No matter the decorations upon any of our chests, the real heros are the Andrews and their parents of the world. We came home and went on with our lives. Their life ended and yours changed forever. Thank you, too, for posting the link for the video. It helped bring home what the brave young men were doing on that day, when most of the rest of the world were going about their business, not even thinking about what was happening in that part of the world. For every person that posted here, there was probably another 10 that wanted to, but emotions blurred their screens too. Dust mites and pollen seem to get thicker on days like this. There was also another 100 per poster who read these comments, watched this video and passed it on to more and more people. It’s taken me awhile to do this myself. I don’t think anyone believes you are high jacking’ diminishing, challenging, or comparing when you visit. It is highly appreciated. And in my opinion, the past and current troopers of the 101st, or any other unit serving, is of the same caliber, and sometimes of a higher caliber, than what we saw then. Keep this in mind; not taking away from any of the “Greatest Generation”, but the current crop are all volunteers. They knew what they were in for and the potential for a not so good ending. The war had been going on for 9 years when Andrew made his sacrifice. His trainers and fellow soldiers had seen the elephant and knew what worked and what didn’t and they passed this… Read more »
You added a human touch to the post, and shared an amazing story about one of the original Brothers, for which we all are grateful. That’s nowhere near hijacking in my book.
So very sorry for your terrible loss, Denise. Not that this will in any way make up for that, but you’re welcome to jump on my posts anytime.
What they all said. They spoke for me. Thanks Denise.
What 2/17 and everyone said, they spoke for me, also. Thank you, Denise.
There is nothing I can add to shorten the veil of tears you have cried since you lost your Son at a too young age.
Life offers nothing other than mere words to try to assuage the guilt and fear that we hold to our hearts as comfort for the losses we have experienced in our few dozen trips we all take around a minor star in the deep, dark ad dangerous ocean we call the Universe.
A grateful nation and all of us here at TAH thank you for your sacrifice.
I have a friend that I grew up with who is also a Gold Star Mom. Her loss is very fresh.
Adam Wolff USMC 6-20-2014.
Here is his page;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Thankyouadamwolf/
Great Series, Great Book, My Brother Served in Co E 2nd of the 506 in Vietnam.
I always equated my friendship with my buddy Danny to Nixon and Winters. Danny was a boy scout while I struggled to find my footing and had a love affair with the bottle. Still my brother almost 10 years later and have a visit lined up with him this summer. God bless that series and the effort put into making it. Visiting a C-47 in person and taking a personal tour nearly closed my throat in humility.
My father forbid us from watching war movies growing up…we understood why later and how we immigrated to America….
We did watch Band of Brothers and I now wish I didn’t but understand why my father LOVED AMERICAN SOLDIERS who fought in our birth country with our family…
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND WE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES to protect us.
VECHTEN VOOR DE DODEN