R.I.P. Dick Winters
01.10.11
Richard “Dick” Winters, the Army officer who was the heart of Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and the HBO miniseries of the same name (in which he was portrayed by Damian Lewis, inset), passed away last week at the age of 92. No cause of death was given, but it must have been some terrible disease or accident to strike down a man so young.
Mr. Winters, who separated from the Army at the rank of major, and his men fought together through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and later occupied Adolf Hitler’s mountainside retreat, the Eagle’s Nest, near Berchtesgaden.
A charismatic officer who led by example, Mr. Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross, the country’s second highest decoration for valor, while conducting combat operations on D-Day. [WaPo]
I think we can all agree when I say, “Shoulda been you, guy who was played by David Schwimmer.”
(Actually, Herbert Sobel died in 1987. But I stand by my joke.)
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RIP “Life”
Currahee
Damn…..That line always gives me goosebumps….
Now back to the pussification generation….
Why not “should have been David Schwimmer”?
/RIP to the only Quaker worthy of your respect
Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s up in Quaker heaven right now, laughing it up with all the other celebrities. John Dillinger, Ty Cobb, Joseph Stalin…
Sigh.
I wish I were dead.
“Shoulda been you,
guy who was played byDavid Schwimmer.”Fixed.
He was a Quaker? Wow, Quakers aren’t usually known for their war time heroics.
@UU – nope. They make fantastic oats, though.
‘god mode’ for Call of Duty: Carentan is WINTERS
..or it should be.
Curahee!
What about that bad ass who ran through Foy ?
So I saw Dick Winters speak a number of years back in a rare public appearance at his granddaughters high school. He told a story about Sobel’s sister calling him after the book was released to complain about the portrayal of her brother. She made a comment to Dick about how depressed the Sergeant’s revolt had made him, how it followed him his entire career, and how he could never let it go. She then went on to say that it had contributed to his decision to try and kill himself. Major Winter’s only response to her… “And he couldn’t even do that right”. True Story.
Ironically, in the book, “Band of Brothers”, many of Easy Company’s soldiers reflected that CPT Sobel’s asshole-martinet style of training was a significant factor in their later success in combat. So it all goes to show that even douchebags can make a positive contribution…but they’ll still be douchebags.