Beyond Band of Brothers

Lately I've found myself wanting to read memoirs from World War II because I've spent so much time studying American soldiers during the Vietnam War this past year that I have acquired some tunnel vision when it comes to figuring out what was unique/new about their experiences in comparison to those who served in prior wars.

Dick Winters' memoir tells a compelling story of a junior officer who spent his entire military career with 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the 101st Airborne. He began as a junior officer within Easy Company and was promoted to Easy Company Commander and then to Battalion Executive Officer and finally to 2nd Battalion Commander during his war service. What I found most compelling about Winters' writing was his remembrances of how he adjusted to wartime life between his embarkation in New York City and his jump into Normandy on D-Day. He adapted to his new environment by taking up residence with an older couple, the Barneses, who had already lost a son to the war. By accustoming himself to life with the Barnes family Winters was able to create for himself a sense of normalcy not unlike his true home—he attended church, exercised, attended to his official duties, read widely in both military tactics and leadership, and maintained close social contacts with members of the community in Aldbourne. While his temporary quarters helped him socially adjust to his new environment it wasn't until his "Baptism of Fire" at Brecourt Manor on D-Day that Winters felt he had completely crossed the threshold from civilian life to that of a soldier.

Winters' writings follow a chronological narrative that if you are familiar with the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers will seem very familiar. Many of the iconic scenes from the miniseries (e.g. the two American soldiers who suffered from amputated or mangled legs during a particularly brutal artillery barrage in the Ardennes) are fleshed out in this memoir.

My main criticism of this memoir has to do with its writing style and execution. This stems from Winters unfortunately, but understandably, using a ghost-writer (Colonel Cole C. Kingseed) to complete the memoir. The reader can feel Kingseed's intrusive presence in paragraphs and sections that seem robotic in writing style when explaining the origins, proceedings, and outcomes of campaigns, battles, and troop movements in distanced tones. The more lucid writings of what are obviously Winters' own words are often sandwiched between many of these far more dispassionate writings by Kingseed.

The good still outweighs the bad as Winters' unique perspective on the evolution of E Company, and the 2nd Battalion as a whole, helps readers/researchers understand how an infantry company grappled with losing its core of veterans and having to acclimate replacements to combat. Because E Company suffered 150% casualties between Normandy and the Bulge, only a handful of soldiers from the original group that trained at Toccoa, Georgia, fought with the unit throughout the campaigns. Winters writes extensively about how he managed to replace effective Non-Coms (and later junior officers) so as to ensure the well-being of the men under his care. Winters' writings about evaluating leaders and maintaining unit cohesion are topics not found in other World War II memoirs like Company Commander by Charles B. MacDonald.

Overall, I would still recommend this book to anyone generally interested in the American soldier's experience during World War II. Readers with an interest in reading about leadership would also find this memoir appealing.