Sunday, January 9, 2011

"WE SALUTE THE RANK, NOT THE MAN." BUT IN THIS CASE, WE ALSO SALUTE THE MAN: Dick Winters, who as a young First Lieutenant on D-Day led a group of 13 men in disabling a German artillery battery at Brécourt Manor, and who went on to become a Major, acting Commander of the U.S. Army 2nd Battalion, and the principal hero of Band of Brothers, has passed away. I know little about the man other than what I saw in Band of Brothers, but the reverence he commanded from his soldiers in their talking-head interviews is telling, and Damian Lewis's soft-spoken, thoughtful portrayal of his war in BoB is one of the high points in an HBO history full of high points.

6 comments:

  1. I like the Ambrose quote mentioned in the article about hoping young people watch/read Band of Brothers and think "I want to be like Dick Winters." Damn straight. The miniseries portrays Major Winters as a man of such integrity and leadership, and those qualities are even more evident in Ambrose's book and Maj. Winters' own memoir. He's definitely one of my heroes.

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  2. I like the Ambrose quote mentioned in the article about hoping young people watch/read Band of Brothers and think "I want to be like Dick Winters." Damn straight. The miniseries portrays Major Winters as a man of such integrity and leadership, and those qualities are even more evident in Ambrose's book and Maj. Winters' own memoir. He's definitely one of my heroes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the Ambrose quote mentioned in the article about hoping young people watch/read Band of Brothers and think "I want to be like Dick Winters." Damn straight. The miniseries portrays Major Winters as a man of such integrity and leadership, and those qualities are even more evident in Ambrose's book and Maj. Winters' own memoir. He's definitely one of my heroes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:53 PM

    So sorry for the triple  post. I'm glad I closed my browser, or apparently it would have been worse.

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  5. If there was ever a man who deserved to rest in peace it's Major Winters. 

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  6. You can only compare such men with today's losers and weep.

    ReplyDelete