Anyone who saw the HBO series Band of Brothers, based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, will remember the US parachute officer Richard “Dick” Winters, played by actor Damian Lewis. Winters led E for Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, from the D-Day landing in June 1944 to the end of the war in Germany. Thanks to Ambrose and the HBO series, Winters became one of the best-known soldiers of World War Two, remarkable for his courageous leadership and modest demeanour. Winters died this week in his native Pennsylvania at age 91.
Richard “Dick” Winters in 1945. An intensely private man, he said that historian Stephen Ambrose “changed my life forever.”
The LA Times obituary is here and the NPR one is here. HT to my mad nephew Tom for this.