Band of Brothers' inspiration dies at age
92
PHILADELPHIA — Richard "Dick" Winters, the Easy Company
commander whose World War II exploits were made famous by
the book and television miniseries "Band of Brothers," died
last week in central Pennsylvania. He was 92.
Winters died following a several-year battle with
Parkinson's disease, longtime family friend William Jackson
said Monday.
An intensely private and humble man, Winters had asked that
news of his death be withheld until after his funeral,
Jackson said. Winters lived in Hershey, Pa., but died in
suburban Palmyra.
The men Winters led expressed their admiration for their
company commander after learning of his death.
William Guarnere, 88, said what he remembers about Winters
was "great leadership."
"When he said 'Let's go,' he was right in the front,"
Guarnere, who was called "Wild Bill" by his comrades, said
Sunday night from his South Philadelphia home. "He was never
in the back. A leader personified."
Another member of the unit living in Philadelphia, Edward
Heffron, 87, said thinking about Winters brought a tear to
his eye.
"He was one hell of a guy, one of the greatest soldiers I
was ever under," said Heffron, who had the nickname "Babe"
in the company. "He was a wonderful officer, a wonderful
leader. He had what you needed, guts and brains. He took
care of his men, that's very important."
Winters was born Jan. 21, 1918 and studied economics at
Franklin & Marshall College before enlisting, according
to a biography on the Penn State website.
Winters became the leader of Company E, 506th Regiment,
101st Airborne Division on D-Day, after the death of the
company commander during the invasion of Normandy.
During that invasion, Winters led 13 of his men in
destroying an enemy battery and obtained a detailed map of
German defenses along Utah Beach. In September 1944, he led
20 men in a successful attack on a German force of 200
soldiers. Occupying the Bastogne area of Belgium at the time
of the Battle of the Bulge, he and his men held their place
until the Third Army broke through enemy lines, and Winters
shortly afterward was promoted to major.
After returning home, Winters married his wife, Ethel, in
May 1948, and trained infantry and Army Ranger units at Fort
Dix during the Korean War. He started a company selling
livestock feed to farmers, and he and his family eventually
settled in a farmhouse in Hershey, Pa., where he retired.
Historian Stephen Ambrose interviewed Winters for the 1992
book "Band of Brothers," upon which the HBO miniseries that
started airing in September 2001 was based. Winters himself
published a memoir in 2006 entitled "Beyond Band of
Brothers." Two years ago, an exhibit devoted to Winters was
dedicated at the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society.
Winters, in frail health in later years, has also been the
subject of a campaign to raise money to erect a monument in
his honor near the beaches of Normandy.
Winters talked about his view of leadership for an August
2004 article in American History Magazine:
"If you can," he wrote, "find that peace within yourself,
that peace and quiet and confidence that you can pass on to
others, so that they know that you are honest and you are
fair and will help them, no matter what, when the chips are
down."
When people asked whether he was a hero, he echoed the words
of his World War II buddy, Mike Ranney: "No, but I served in
a company of heroes."
"He was a good man, a very good man," Guarnere said. "I
would follow him to hell and back. So would the men from E
Company."